John Irving quotes - page 6

I think that writers are, at best, outsiders to the society they inhabit. They have a kind of detachment, or try to have. (John Irving)

There's a lot of ignorance about how long it takes to write a novel. There's a lot of ignorance about how long a novel is in your head before you start to write it.

John Irving

There's no reason you should write any novel quickly.

John Irving

Sometimes that's a year, sometimes it's 18 months, where all I'm doing is taking notes. I'm reconstructing the story from the back to the front so that I know where the front is.

John Irving

More than a half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer is rewriting. I wouldn't say I have a talent that's special. It strikes me that I have an unusual kind of stamina.

John Irving

I have pretty thick skin, and I think if you're going to be in this business, if you're going to be an actor or a writer, you better have a thick skin.

John Irving

You think you have a memory; but it has you!

John Irving

I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to know what happens. I mean that I have to hear the actual sentences. I have to know what atmosphere the words convey.

John Irving

People regard art too highly, and history not enough.

John Irving

I believe in rules of behavior, and I'm quite interested in stories about the consequences of breaking those rules.

John Irving

I've always preferred writing in longhand. I've always written first drafts in longhand. (John Irving)

And I don't want to begin something, I don't want to write that first sentence until all the important connections in the novel are known to me. As if the story has already taken place, and it's my responsibility to put it in the right order to tell it to you.

John Irving

And I find - I'm 63, and my capacity to be by myself and just spend time by myself hasn't diminished any. That's the necessary part of being a writer, you better like being alone.

John Irving

You don't want to be ungenerous toward people who give you prizes, but it is never the social or political message that interests me in a novel. I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character.

John Irving

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John Irving

John Irving - Image

Photo: Dr. Jost Hindersmann Krimidoedel, CC BY 3.0

Occupation: American Novelist
Born: March 2, 1942
Quotes count: 139
Wikipedia: John Irving

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