process of writing the book, I was so entrenched in their world for hours and hours, days and days — it took three years to write — I ended up merging with them in a way.

AR: I know what you mean. I’ll watch four hours of reality TV straight and then feel revved up in this strange way or like I could get into a Housewives-style brawl. Were there emotional or mental tolls in immersing yourself in reality TV so intensely?

KD: Before I started, I was like, “What am I going to discover about reality TV and myself in doing this?” I didn’t really know what would happen but I knew it would be valuable. Paying that close of attention to anything can yield really rich results. Watching these shows became almost like meditation.

When you watch something for a long time it really affects you. The way we judge people on reality TV is the way we judge ourselves. We wouldn’t be judging them if we didn’t feel those anxieties about ourselves. When I’m watching I tend to confront some of that within myself. I also have a sense of disassociation, which I still experience here and there. One of the things I noticed when watching the show so closely is that moment when the camera person is reflected in the mirror, or the lighting guy is visible in the background. I started to see how constructed every moment was. Now when I walk around I sometimes feel as if I’m on TV, which I don’t think is untrue.

AR: The genre of E! Entertainment is literary television, which you coined. Why did a new genre feel necessary for this book? 

KD: A large part of me inventing a genre is based in the fact that I don’t care for genres, so if I’m going to work on something I want to make up something just for that project.

AR: I was thinking of what it would be like if literary television took off —