Your tale in this week’s problem, “Cat Person, ” is actually an agonizing bad-date story and, i believe, a type of commentary how people get acquainted with one another, or don’t, through electronic interaction. Where did the concept for the story originate from?

The storyline had been influenced by a little but nasty encounter we had with someone we came across on the web. I happened to be surprised because of the means this person addressed me, after which instantly surprised by my very own surprise. Just How had I made a decision that this is some body i possibly could trust? The event got me personally taking into consideration the strange and evidence that is flimsy used to judge the contextless individuals we meet outside our current internet sites, whether on the web or down.

Particularly in early phases of dating, there’s therefore interpretation that is much inference taking place that all discussion functions as a type of Rorschach test for all of us. We decide so it means something which a individual likes kitties rather than dogs, or has a particular sort of artsy tattoo, or can land a great laugh in a text, but, actually, they are reassuring self-deceptions. Our impression that is initial of person is just about completely a mirage of guesswork and projection. Once I began composing the tale, I experienced the notion of someone who had adopted all of these familiar signifiers as a type of camouflage, but had been one thing else—or nothing at all—underneath. Read More “Kristen Roupenian in the Self-Deceptions of Dating”