Chuck Palahniuk on the character he has the most compassion for

From the documentary 'Postcards From the Future'. A story about Denny from "Choke", and about masturbation.

You can buy the DVD for the full documentary at: www.chuckpalahniuk.net.

Video captioned by: Andreia Frazão.

Which of your characters
do you have the most compassion for?

Denny.

Denny from "Choke".

God, I can tell this story now,

because I hope I didn't tell
this story two years ago.

Denny is named after
a friend of mine

who died of hepatitis.

I think, sexually contracted hepatitis.

So, one of those weird,
strange, like, hepatitis D,

that comes from nowhere.

And people get it, their liver
is gone and they die.

And Denny was just the sweetest,
dumbest guy, but he had like this --

this really enlightened dumbness.

And when I was little,
when I first...

God, I can't even remember...

When I first learnt
how to jack off, okay?

When it happened --
sort of accidentally --

and you think: "Whooah!"

And this is such a bourgeois child
that I was, I thought --

"I've invented something!"
(Laughter)

I'm gonna make so much money!

(Laughter)

Everybody's gonna want
to learn how to do this!

(Laughter)

I am gonna be king of the world!

I can give seminars!

(Laughter)

I'm like, what, 12 years old... you know?

Thinking, instantly going --

"I can turn this into money."

"I can parlay this --
this handful of cum --

"this is gonna make me rich!"

(Laughter)

I was so fucking disappointed!

(Laughter)

(Applause)

My mom's like...
(Knocking)

knocking on the bathroom door,

and I'm like, "I'm doing market research!"

(Laughter)

"Shut up, I'll make you rich!"

So I wrote that in this Denny's character.

Denny does that in "Choke"
because combining that --

that sort of sweet stupidity --

with my friend Denny --
who is dead --

I just love that as a character...

You know, a real character
that I felt something for.

And I don't typically like my characters.

It's much more interesting,
and there's a lot more sort of energy,

in creating a character
that says stuff that you don't like.

Because then you have to sort of
make a case and research,

and eloquently present something

that is not necessarily
your own viewpoint.

And that's always
so much more of a challenge!

So, you don't have to like the character,

you don't even have to like
or believe what they are saying.

They just have to be
really well developed.

And you have to make a real case
for what they're saying.

And Denny is possibly the only character
I've ever written that I liked.

Let's call it good at that!

I don't have any more funnier stories
than that, so... thank you!

(Applause)