Anne Tyler quotes - page 2

I can never tell ahead of time which book will give me trouble - some balk every step of the way, others seem to write themselves - but certainly the mechanics of writing, finding the time and the psychic space, are easier now that my children are grown. (Anne Tyler)

The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning.

Anne Tyler

She worded it a bit strongly, but I do find myself more and more struck by the differences between the sexes. To put it another way: All marriages are mixed marriages.

Anne Tyler

I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage.

Anne Tyler

The Amateur Marriage grew out of the reflection that of all the opportunities to show differences in character, surely an unhappy marriage must be the richest.

Anne Tyler

It struck her all at once that dealing with other human beings was an awful lot of work.

Anne Tyler

While armchair travelers dream of going places, traveling armchairs dream of staying put.

Anne Tyler

He wished he had inhabited more of his life, used it better, filled it fuller.

Anne Tyler

None of my own experiences ever finds its way into my work. However, the stages of my life - motherhood, middle age, etc. - often influence my subject matter.

Anne Tyler

Time, in general, has always been a central obsession of mine - what it does to people, how it can constitute a plot all on its own. So naturally, I am interested in old age.

Anne Tyler

She was good at talking with young people. She seemed to view them as interesting foreigners. (Anne Tyler)

I've always enjoyed studying the small clues that indicate a particular class level.

Anne Tyler

I expect that any day now, I will have said all I have to say; I'll have used up all my characters, and then I'll be free to get on with my real life.

Anne Tyler

And I am interested in the fact that class is very much a factor in America, even though it's not supposed to be.

Anne Tyler

I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns.

Anne Tyler

I'll write maybe one long paragraph describing the events, then a page or two breaking the events into chapters, and then reams of pages delving into my characters. After that, I'm ready to begin.

Anne Tyler

My decision to start a new one is just that, a decision, since I never get inspirations.

Anne Tyler

I never think about the actual process of writing. I suppose I have a superstition about examining it too closely.

Anne Tyler

Not until the final draft do I force myself to remember that I'm going to have to think about how it will affect other people.

Anne Tyler

My family can always tell when I'm well into a novel because the meals get very crummy.

Anne Tyler

I think it must be very hard to be one of the new young writers who are urged to put themselves forward when it may be the last thing on earth they'd be good at. (Anne Tyler)

I save the best of myself for novels, and I believe it shows.

Anne Tyler

My writing day has grown shorter as I've aged, although it seems to produce the same number of pages.

Anne Tyler

I spend about a year between novels.

Anne Tyler

I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.

Anne Tyler

Previous
1
2 (Current)
3
Next

Anne Tyler

Occupation: American Novelist
Born: October 25, 1941
Quotes count: 64
Wikipedia: Anne Tyler

Related authors

Margaret Atwood 547

Canadian Poet

Howard Jacobson 7

British Author

Jeanette Winterson 280

British Novelist

Marilynne Robinson 72

American Novelist

Ali Smith 31

Scottish Writer

Jane Smiley 106

American Writer

Sarah Waters 31

Welsh Novelist

Barbara Kingsolver 159

American Author

Annie Proulx 31

American Journalist

Kristin Hannah 43

American Writer