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All Anne Tyler Quotes
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.
Anne Tyler
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I didn't really choose to write; I more or less fell into it.
Anne Tyler
56% of people like this quote
I remember leaving the hospital - thinking, 'Wait, are they going to let me just walk off with him? I don't know beans about babies! I don't have a license to do this.' We're just amateurs.
Anne Tyler
56% of people like this quote
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
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I forget a book as soon as I finish writing it, which is not always a good thing.
Anne Tyler
55% of people like this quote
I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage.
Anne Tyler
54% of people like this quote
I never think about the actual process of writing. I suppose I have a superstition about examining it too closely.
Anne Tyler
53% of people like this quote
I'll write maybe one long paragraph describing the events, then a page or two breaking the events into chapters, and then reams of pages delving into my characters. After that, I'm ready to begin.
Anne Tyler
53% of people like this quote
I think it must be very hard to be one of the new young writers who are urged to put themselves forward when it may be the last thing on earth they'd be good at.
Anne Tyler
53% of people like this quote
I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.
Anne Tyler
53% of people like this quote
I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns.
Anne Tyler
52% of people like this quote
Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!
Anne Tyler
52% of people like this quote
At most I'll spend three or four hours daily, sometimes less.
Anne Tyler
52% of people like this quote
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