Biography (and autobiography) in Then We Came to the End
by Joshua Ferris

As I spent some time in advertising before writing a novel about advertising, I've had a lot of people approach me with inquiries into which characters were based on which real-life people. The answer I give to people who want to know who so-and-so in the book really is, which person so-and-so is based upon, is always disappointing: he (or she) is no one. He (or she) is a work of the imagination.
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Writing Dating Up!
by J. Courtney Sullivan

Two winters ago, I left New York's icy streets behind for a week, and went to sunny San Francisco to visit my best friend Karin. I hadn't seen her in over a year, and as soon as we were in each other's presence, we launched into a conversation on our favorite topic?men. We talked about her failing relationship with her stockbroker boyfriend, my non-relationship with a 29-year-old aspiring rock star, and the equally pathetic relationships that all of our close friends were in. That's when it dawned on me that so many of the brilliant, ambitious, funny, beautiful women we knew were dating absolute schlumps?men with no ambition, no manners, no money, or no clue (and in some cases, all of the above.)
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