The idea is this: It's important to upset one's work habits, to topple the cart for each project.

I heard somewhere that whenever you write a book, people will ask you One Question about it over and over. And while I'm no expert in these matters, this is proving to be true. My first book dealt with a not-that-pleasant degenerate type, and the One Question was, 'Is this an autobiographical story?'

If I were to continue to work in an established mode, it stands to reason the work would be limited by this - that it would never surpass the prior work in quality.

Patrick deWitt Quotes