Home / Quotes / Quote by Jonathan Dee

Quote by Jonathan Dee

“The Postman Always Rings Twice that's a book that I think every writer should read - that has to do with technique. But it's also a novel narrated by a guy who has decided by page 11 that he's fallen in love with a woman, and they're going to murder her husband so they can be together. There's nothing remotely likeable about him, but James M. Cain brings you so far into his head that, at a certain point, you have that uncomfortable but also thrilling sensation of seeing things exactly as he sees it.”

Quote by Jonathan Dee

Author

Jonathan Dee is an American novelist born in 1962. His works are known for their nuanced psychological portrayals and profound social insights, primarily exploring the lives and values of the American middle class. more

You May Also Like

“Luckily for you, you can close the book The Postman Always Rings Twice and break out of it, and James M. Cain can't. I can't think of any redeeming feature he has, but he's extremely compelling.”

Thinking Book Break Rings Postman

Author:Jonathan Dee

“A Thousand Pardons began at the beginning. I wanted it to be one continuous, almost breathless kind of story. In order to do that, it's really hard not to begin at the beginning. There's such a chain of consequence to everything that happens to main characters - it's very hard to break it apart and still be able to hold the plot in your head.”

Kind Character Break Consequence Breathless

Author:Jonathan Dee

“That's a long way of saying no, I'm always too bound up in thinking about the characters in whatever I'm working on and trying to make good to dwell on characters from previous books.”

Thinking Trying Long Book Character

Author:Jonathan Dee

“One of my favorite pieces of advice about being a writer came from a very formative teacher I had as an undergraduate, named John Hersey. On our last day of class together, which was also John Hersey last day before retirement, he said, "Remember, the world doesn't need any new writers." Which at first didn't seem like great advice, but when you unpacked it, it was really that it's not enough to be confident in what you do; be conscious of bringing something to the world of readers and writers that it hasn't seen before. Something idiosyncratic.”

World Enough Together Remember Teacher Advice Conscious My Favorite Retirement Last Day Be Confident

Author:Jonathan Dee

“You should not really entertaining anyone else, but trying to be yourself, because there are already more good books than you or I could ever read in our lifetime.”

Trying Book Lifetime Being Yourself Good Book

Author:Jonathan Dee

“I hesitate to say yes - I had writer's block, because I know there are people who've had really serious cases of it, and I've never been paralyzed like that, but I definitely get blocked sometimes. More than periods where I don't write anything, I have periods where I just write junk and I know I'm writing junk but I can't stop.”

People Writing Sometimes Serious Block Blocked

Author:Jonathan Dee

“The first draft of everything, I write longhand. One of the nice things about that is that it makes you keep going. If you write a bad sentence on the computer, then it's very tempting to go back and fidget with it and spend another 20 minutes trying to make it into a good sentence. When you're handwriting, you really just have to move on.”

Writing Trying Moving Nice Computer Keep Going

Author:Jonathan Dee

“I'm not interested in provoking people, but only in trying to be consoling.”

People Trying Not Interested Provoking Consoling

Author:Martin Kippenberger

“In high school, I had a teacher there who was really great to me and with whom I finally dared to admit I wanted to be a writer myself, and we did a project where I wrote terrible, 17-year-old fiction. But I remember a couple of the stories. I'd love it if I could read with pride something that I wrote that long ago, but it hasn't happened yet.”

Long School Remember Teacher Pride Couple Terrible High School Really Great

Author:Jonathan Dee

“I once saw John Updike get in front of a crowd and read a story that he'd written in 1958, and I just thought, I can't even look at stuff I wrote a year ago, I can't believe he's doing this.”

Author:Jonathan Dee