Trillions of Stars: Five Lessons in Creativity from David Lynch

Over Christmas I read Room to Dream, the biography of David Lynch. Anyone who has watched Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive will know that defying formal conventions is one of the things that makes the director and artist so, well, Lynchian, and sure enough the book is a biography like no other.

Here’s how it was written … Lynch’s co-author Kristine McKenna would first write a chapter in keeping with the traditions of biography — dates, names, interviews — and then Lynch would read her work and produce his own lyrical chapter in response. As McKenna puts it, the process was ‘basically a person having a conversation with his own biography.’ This conceit of dual voices makes for a dynamic, vital book and underscores how there can never be a wholly truthful account of a person’s life, only competing perspectives.

Original artwork by David Lynch

And even if you’re already a fan of the boy from Idaho, there will be much for you to discover here about the life of a true auteur.

Aside from biographical nuggets like Lynch’s unlikely hatred of graffiti and fanatical dedication to smoking, there are inspirational passages on creativity and…