Quote

How plotless real life was!

Anne Tyler

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Anne Tyler
Age: 83
Born: 1941
Born: October 25
Librarian
Novelist
Short Story Writer
Writer
Minneapolis
Minnesota
Real
Life

More quotes by Anne Tyler

Image
My decision to start a new one is just that, a decision, since I never get inspirations.
Anne Tyler
Image
The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.
Anne Tyler
Image
You think we're a family,' Cody said, turning back. 'You think we're some jolly, situation-comedy family when we're in particles, torn apart, torn all over the place, and our mother was a witch.
Anne Tyler
Image
She was good at talking with young people. She seemed to view them as interesting foreigners.
Anne Tyler
Image
Once your mind is caught on the right snag, there's nothing so hard about the mechanics of writing.
Anne Tyler
Image
When I'm working on something, I proceed as if no one else will ever read it.
Anne Tyler
Image
I never think about the actual process of writing. I suppose I have a superstition about examining it too closely.
Anne Tyler
Image
But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.
Anne Tyler
Image
I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.
Anne Tyler
Image
Mostly it's lies, writing novels. You set out to tell an untrue story and you try to make it believable, even to yourself. Which calls for details any good lie does.
Anne Tyler
Image
I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get
Anne Tyler
Image
I forget a book as soon as I finish writing it, which is not always a good thing
Anne Tyler
Image
I'm too shy for personal appearances, and I've found out that anytime I talk about my writing, I can't do any writing for many weeks afterward.
Anne Tyler
Image
Sooner or later, even the sharpest pain became flattened.
Anne Tyler
Image
Something was wrong with a world where people came and went so easily.
Anne Tyler
Image
We stay in the house so much because I am waiting for the telephone. I seem to be back in my teens, a period I thought I would never have to endure again: my life is spent hoping for things that only someone else can bring about.
Anne Tyler
Image
Now peculiar scraps of knowledge were stuck to him like lint from all his jobs.
Anne Tyler
Image
But I don't think people take bad advice. They've got intuition too, you know. In fact I'd be surprised if they take any advice at all.
Anne Tyler
Image
The very thing that attracts you to someone can end up putting you off.
Anne Tyler
Image
...it's closeness that does you in. Never get too close to people, son.
Anne Tyler