American - Writer | 1956 -
I don't think of my characters as bumbling. I think that trouble is what drives a novel, both big troubles and small troubles, and whatever people try to do in life, there are a series of stumbling-blocks in the way, and I think that makes for interesting reading. I think of them as doing their best with the roadblocks that they're given.
Tom Drury
LifeBestPeopleSmallReadingWay
I tend to write about towns because that's what I remember best. You can put a boundary on the number of characters you insert into a small town. I tend to create a lot of characters, so this is a sort of restraint on the character building I do for a novel.
CharacterBestBuildingSmallYou
The past has an undeniable grip on everyone, except, perhaps, amnesiacs.
PastEveryoneGripExceptPerhaps
I go back to a very specific aspect of the Midwest - small towns surrounded by farmland. They make a good stage for what I like to write about, i.e., roads and houses, bridges and rivers and weather and woods, and people to whom strange or interesting things happen, causing problems they must overcome.
GoodRoadsPeopleWeatherSmall
I do get very involved in making a scene work without giving too much thought about how it affects the overall, which I think is hard to know in any case.
WorkThinkThoughtGivingToo Much
I like the writing life, but it's not something that always makes enough money.
LifeMoneyWritingEnoughAlways
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