“When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it - rather, I am remembering a story that has already happened.” KnowsWantWritingFirstsStoriesHappensRememberHappenedSentencesInventing Author:John Irving
“I've always preferred writing in longhand. I've always written first drafts in longhand.” WritingFirstsWritten Author:John Irving
“And I don't want to begin something, I don't want to write that first sentence until all the important connections in the novel are known to me. As if the story has already taken place, and it's my responsibility to put it in the right order to tell it to you.” IfsWantWritingFirstsImportantStoriesOrderResponsibilityKnownNovelTakenConnectionsSentencesAlready Taken Author:John Irving
“The characters in my novels, from the very first one, are always on some quixotic effort of attempting to control something that is uncontrollable - some element of the world that is essentially random and out of control.” WorldFirstsCharacterEffortNovelElementsAttemptingUncontrollableQuixotic Author:John Irving
“Wrestling was my first success, the first thing that confirmed that I could be good at anything. Devoting yourself to wrestling, or tennis, or skiing, or dance, or to a musical instrument is a longing to be disciplined for a purpose.” FirstsPurposeInstrumentsLongingMusicalBe GoodTennisWrestlingSkiingMusical Instruments Author:John Irving
“The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life led by human beings; the second was that human beings could survive a life in hotels.” FirstsHumansFatherHuman BeingsBearsIllusionHotel Author:John Irving
“I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to get the first draft.” WritingFirstsLongDoeBookTake Me Author:John Irving
“Adolescence-is it the first time in life we discover that we have something terrible to hide from those who love us?” FirstsTerribleFirst TimeAdolescence Author:John Irving
“I'm not typing. I write only by longhand. I've always written first drafts by hand and then once I was into a second or third draft I wrote insert pages on a typewriter. But I got rid of all my typewriters about three or four novels ago and now I do everything by hand. I write by hand because it makes me go slow and going slow is what I like.” WritingFirstsHandsThreeNovelFourWrittenPagesThirdsTypewritersTypingInsert Author:John Irving
“…there is no nakedness that compares to being naked in front of someone for the first time.” FirstsFrontsFirst TimeNakedCompare Book:A Widow For One Year Source: A Widow For One Year
“Know the story before you fall in love with your first sentence. If you don’t know the story before you begin the story, what kind of a storyteller are you? Just an ordinary kind, just a mediocre kind – making it up as you go along, like a common liar.” IfsKnowsFirstsKindStoriesFallCommonOrdinaryFalling In LoveSentencesLiarsMediocreStoryteller Author:John Irving
