American - Novelist | July 15, 1949 -
I think a lot of what is going on with kids who get pushed too far and attempt either murder or suicide is that they are trying to deal with their own non-existence for the people who are supposed to care most for them.
Richard Russo
PeopleThinkCareSuicideTrying
Even at its most perceptive, sociology deals in abstractions.
SociologyEvenDealsMostPerceptive
I was pretty dead set against ever writing an academic novel. It's always been my view that there are already more than enough academic novels and that most of them aren't any good. Most of them are self-conscious and bitter, the work of people who want to settle grudges.
WorkGoodPeopleWritingViewWant
My dad had this rock hard body and would work 12- to 13-hour days. The guys he worked with were scrap-iron guys. Nobody on that road crew had read a book in 10 years, but there was something about the way they lived I really admired.
WorkBookRoadBodyNobodyRock
About 15 years ago I went though a period of a year or so when I just couldn't find anything good. My wife noticed I was having trouble reading menus. I bought some cheap reading glasses in a drug store. I got home and suddenly all these books that weren't good were good.
GoodHomeWifeGlassesReadingYear
By ignoring a lot of American culture you can write more interesting stories. Unfortunately, if you were writing about America as it is, you'd be writing about a lot of people sitting in front of television sets.
CulturePeopleWritingAmericanYou
When authors who write literary fiction begin to write screenplays, everybody assumes that's the end. Here's another who's never going to write well again.
EndNeverWriteBeginFictionGoing
You can be interested in a Jane Smiley novel whether or not anyone says a word. She enters into her characters' thoughts with great understanding and depth.
GreatThoughtsUnderstandingYouShe
I read pretty voraciously. If it's good, I don't care what it is.
GoodCarePrettyRead
Usually by the time I finish a book tour I've just about had it with the book.
TimeBookFinishJustTourAbout
I looked back at some of my earlier published stories with genuine horror and remorse. I got thinking, How many extant copies might there be, who owns them, and do they keep their doors locked?
ThinkingDoorsBackGenuineHorror
When I start getting close to the end of a novel, something registers in the back of my mind for the next novel, so that I usually don't write, or take notes. And I certainly don't begin. I just allow things to percolate for a while.
MindStartEndBackWriteBegin
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict Richard Russo quotes