You put a character out there and you're in their power. You're in trouble if they're in yours. Ann Beattie More Quotes by Ann Beattie More Quotes From Ann Beattie People forget years and remember moments. Ann Beattie remember people years Because I don’t work with an outline, writing a story is like crossing a stream, now I’m on this rock, now I’m on this rock, now I’m on this rock. Ann Beattie rocks stories writing There is some reason, obviously, that you are drawn to your material, but the way in which you explore it might come to be quite different from what you would expect. Ann Beattie different writing might It seems to me that the problem with diaries, and the reason that most of them are so boring, is that every day we vacillate between examining our hangnails and speculating on cosmic order. Ann Beattie problem diaries order Whatever one intends, the work takes on a life of its own. Ann Beattie Clichés so often befall vain people. Ann Beattie vain people I don't write about things that I have the answers to or things that are very close to home. It just wouldn't be any adventure. It wouldn't have any vitality. Ann Beattie home writing travel Any life will seem dramatic if you omit mention of most of it. Ann Beattie dramatic ifs seems I think almost always that what gets me going with a story is the atmosphere, the visual imagery, and then I people it with characters, not the other way around. Ann Beattie character people thinking I think I write about things that are mysterious to me. Ann Beattie mysterious-things writing thinking What will happen can't be stopped. Aim for Grace. Ann Beattie aim grace happens While I would agree that I write about serious subjects, and that they're not necessarily the most pleasant subjects or even the most pleasant people, as a writer I just think about the humorous aspects of these things - that's what keeps me going when I'm writing a story. Ann Beattie humorous writing thinking It's not about having things figured out, or about communicating with other people, trying to make them understand what you understand. It's about a chicken dinner at a drive-in. A soft pillow. Things that don't need explaining. Ann Beattie dinner trying people The admiration of another writer’s work is almost in inverse proportion to similarities in style. Ann Beattie admiration proportion style Also minimalism is a term that all of us who share so little in common and who are lumped together as minimalists are not terribly happy with. Ann Beattie together common littles You have to figure out who the right person is to tell the story. And often, people who are very self-aware will only sound as if they are pontificating if they tell the story. Ann Beattie self writing people I don't even correct people when they mispronounce my name now. Ann Beattie names people Clouds are poems, and the most moving poems linger on the blackboard so long, written in cursive so lovely, they also exist inside our fingertips. We never really erase them at the end of the lesson. Ann Beattie clouds long moving Nobody can assume that, to a writer, everything is off-limits. Ann Beattie assuming limits writing I am not alone in bearing grudges against reviewers who have doomed a book's chances because they've missed the point, the tone, everything. Ann Beattie tone chance book
