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In high school I was the dog, always, and I never have felt comfortable or right in my body, and part of my whole exhibitionist thing has probably been a way of testing to see whether or not I really was this repulsive creature that I felt like for so long.

Poppy Z. Brite

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Poppy Z. Brite
Age: 57
Born: 1967
Born: May 25
Author
Biographer
Novelist
Writer
New Orleans
Louisiana
Billy Martin
Thing
High
Exhibitionist
Long
Whether
Repulsive
Really
Felt
Testing
Way
School
Creature
Always
Part
Dog
Never
Body
Creatures
Like
Whole
Comfortable
Right
Probably

More quotes by Poppy Z. Brite

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I've certainly learned a great deal from my husband, though, and could never have written a book like Liquor without him and the people he introduces me to and the stories he brings home.
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They discovered that even in the face of pain that seems unbearable, even in the face of pain that wrings the last drop of blood out of your heart and leaves its scrimshaw tracery on the inside of your skull, life goes on. And pain grows dull, and begins to fade
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Sometimes we gotta be brave even when we're scared. We gotta not let being scared keep us from thinkin' straight. That's all brave is, boy, when you come right down to it, not lettin' the fear get you so turned around you start doin' stupid things, instead of what you know you ought to do.
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Never relinquish your terrors. That's when they catch you.
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My dad told me that no one could ever make it as a writer, that my chances were equivalent to winning the lottery - which was good for me, because I like to have something to prove.
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Ive tried to avoid labels, but they always find you.
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If you find yourself imitating another writer, that doesn't have to be a bad thing, especially if you are a young or a new writer. However, you should be conscious of exactly how you are imitating him - word choice, sentence structure, motifs? - and think about why you're doing it.
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If you’re ever lucky enough to belong somewhere, if a place takes you in and you take it into yourself, you don't desert it just because it can kill you. There are things more valuable than life.
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If you want something, you don't wait for the world to deal it out for you. You take it.
Poppy Z. Brite
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And I can't think of a reason I'd ever use a pseudonym, as I wouldn't want to publish something that I didn't like enough to put my name on it.
Poppy Z. Brite
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I don't think it is possible to give tips for finding one's voice it's one of those things for which there aren't really any tricks or shortcuts, or even any advice that necessarily translates from writer to writer. All I can tell you is to write as much as possible.
Poppy Z. Brite
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Mostly I enjoy the restaurants (my husband is a chef), though I wish we had a wider diversity of ethnic food.
Poppy Z. Brite
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Celebrities, even insignificant ones like me, are created to be abused by the Great Unwashed.
Poppy Z. Brite
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You hold onto what you have you do not give it up easily, even when you know it is poisoning you.
Poppy Z. Brite
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The night is the hardest time to be alive and 4am knows all my secrets.
Poppy Z. Brite
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I certainly wanted to write a book that was honest about New Orleans without explaining it to death, so much so that the first draft contained references absolutely incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't lived here for several years.
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In France, for instance, one magazine writer was convinced that On The Road had been a huge influence on Lost Souls and was crushed to learn that I hadn't read the one until after I'd written the other.
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You can only maintain an immensely gothic attitude for so long before either killing yourself or beginning to feel like a poser.
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There are people who must spend huge amounts of time composing these online diatribes against me, all about how disgusting and terrible I am and how no one should ever read my books, and it's not enough for them to hate me, they can't stand the fact that ANYONE likes me!
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It was like discovering that your innermost fires and terrors, the things you believed no one else could fathom, were in fact the basis of a recognized philosophy. Some part of you felt intimately invaded, threatened some other part fell to its knees and sobbed in gratitude that it was no longer alone.
Poppy Z. Brite