Harlan Coben
American author
I don’t even voice them. Perhaps the books are my outlet here.
What is your greatest fear?
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Apathy, either from an audience, the people around me or myself.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 September 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 256 →Lack of purpose.
My lips are sealed.
Eleanor Tomlinson
English actress
I’m terrified of time. The people I love are getting older and time seems to be going faster and faster. It’s scary. I’d like it to slow down, please.
More from Midge Ure
View profile →Content, assured, indecisive.
Sitting on the fence – I will do anything to avoid confrontation.
Those mad thoughts. Did you turn off the air fryer? Have I booked my plane for tomorrow?
Carol Vorderman, because she’s stuck her head above the parapet to try to hold our bizarre politicians to account.
I stopped drinking 18 or 19 years ago, and in an argument someone who will remain nameless said: “Oh just go and have a drink.” It was nasty.
Other people get sad.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 243 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 195 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 158 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 111 answers
- What are you most proud of? 103 answers
Also answered this
Eugene Levy, Robert Carlyle, Robert De Niro, Andrea Bocelli, Judy Blume, Allison Janney
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Explore further
- All identity & self questions
- The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject