If you read enough Palahniuk, you start to think about the world in a slightly different way. You think about people, their actions, reactions, motivation, hidden agendas, and desires more. You think about less-ness, the returning back to a simpler version of self. You think about how one person can make a significant difference in the world when you adjust your window of effect. You think about how the world affects the individuals in it.
Most importantly, you think that perhaps you can do this whole fiction writing thing, too. If you have something to say, all you have to do is wrap a story around the message or observation and press the process button on the side of the blender. Mix mix mix. Splice splice splice. Bake it in your mental oven. Cool it on paper. Serve it to your guests.
Maybe it’s not so hard after all.
Oh gawd. Chuck P makes me feel the opposite way, like I want to emulate him but I know I can’t do that sort of thing anywhere near as well as he does. Good luck though :)