Quote

Reading any piece of writing aloud is an acid test, particularly when it comes to dialogue. There were writers I'd always admired who suddenly rang false when I spoke their words in our living room.

Anne Tyler

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Anne Tyler
Age: 83
Born: 1941
Born: October 25
Librarian
Novelist
Short Story Writer
Writer
Minneapolis
Minnesota
Rooms
False
Rang
Reading
Suddenly
Aloud
Words
Tests
Admired
Living
Particularly
Acid
Comes
Piece
Spokes
Writing
Writers
Spoke
Always
Room
Test
Pieces
Dialogue

More quotes by Anne Tyler

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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.
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I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.
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If I waited till I felt like writing, I'd never write at all.
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Now peculiar scraps of knowledge were stuck to him like lint from all his jobs.
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And I am interested in the fact that class is very much a factor in America, even though it's not supposed to be.
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I never think about the actual process of writing. I suppose I have a superstition about examining it too closely.
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Smells could bring a person back clearer than pictures even could.
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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.
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I've always thought a hotel ought to offer optional small animals. I mean a cat to sleep on your bed at night, or a dog of some kind to act pleased when you come in. You ever notice how a hotel room feels so lifeless?
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I'm falling into disrepair
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For my own family, I would always choose the makeshift, surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood.
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But if you never did anything you couldn't undo you'd end up doing nothing at all.
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I love to think about chance - about how one little overheard word, one pebble in a shoe, can change the universe.
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My writing day has grown shorter as I've aged, although it seems to produce the same number of pages.
Anne Tyler
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Once your mind is caught on the right snag, there's nothing so hard about the mechanics of writing.
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People imagine that missing a loved one works kind of like missing cigarettes,' he said. 'The first day is really hard but the next day is less hard and so forth, easier and easier the longer you go on. But instead it's like missing water. Every day, you notice the person's absence more.
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I've always enjoyed studying the small clues that indicate a particular class level.
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My decision to start a new one is just that, a decision, since I never get inspirations.
Anne Tyler
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Liam really enjoyed a good movie. He found it restful to watch people's conversations without being expected to join in. But he always felt sort of lonesome if he didn't have someone next to him to nudge in the ribs at the good parts.
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I write because I want more than one life I insist on a wider selection. It's greed, plain and simple.
Anne Tyler