“Anyone with an imagination can write about the day-to-day experiences of someone he or she is not.” Quote by Alice Mattison
“Sometimes people want to know how to write a story from the point of view of a murderer and make her sympathetic. I think the answer is that you start by having her look for her car keys, because everybody knows what it's like.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantWritingLooksSometimesStoriesAnswersViewsKnow HowCarKeysPoint Of ViewMurdererSympatheticCar Keys Author:Alice Mattison
“Even murderers, I suppose, experience the loss of car keys the way the rest of us do. I mean, how can they not? Once you make this person scramble around the house looking for her car keys and finally find them, get in the car, and run into traffic, we can identify with her enough that when she stops the car and pulls the gun out of her purse and heads in to kill somebody, we'll be with her as much as is possible.” WayMeanPersonsEnoughRunningHouseLossCarKeysGunTrafficMurdererPursesCar Keys Author:Alice Mattison
“For some people, it's very easy to be spontaneous and they can pour out the most wonderful stuff. But it's really hard to exert control over it, to think, 'Well, this could be different. This could go in the opposite order, there could be more here and less there.' For other people, it's much easier to have rules and a methodology, but much harder to let loose and allow their feelings to come pouring out on the page. They're more shy or they're just more distant from their emotions. I think everybody starts with one or the other.” PeopleThinkingWellsDifferentHardFeelingsOrderEasyStuffEmotionWonderfulEasierPagesOppositesHarderShyOver ItSpontaneousPouringMethodologyBe Spontaneous Author:Alice Mattison
“Sometimes it's interesting to see what people who have too much control need to do to write freely.” PeopleNeedsWritingSometimesInterestingToo Much Author:Alice Mattison
“I remember I had had one woman who had three or four kids, and some of them were having problems. I said, 'Maybe you could go write somewhere else, away from your house.' And sure enough, all kinds of wonderful stuff emerged. She was keeping too much charge of herself because she couldn't stop being a mother when she was in the house. You have to find your own way of letting loose, if you're one of those people.” PeopleIfsWayWritingKindSaidEnoughProblemKidsRememberMotherThreeHouseStuffToo MuchFourWonderfulAll KindsSomewhere ElseOne WomanBeing A Mother Author:Alice Mattison
“I actually think it's sometimes easier for the control freaks to let loose.” ThinkingSometimesEasierFreakControl Freak Author:Alice Mattison
“There seems to be a tremendous desire among many people now to know authors and how they work, to know what's autobiographical and what isn't.” PeopleKnowsSeemsDesire Author:Alice Mattison
“I love to read nonfiction and memoir, but I'm mostly interested in the piece of writing more than the person.” WritingPersonsPiecesMemoirNonfictionLove To Read Author:Alice Mattison
“I'm very secretive. I'll write a whole novel and revise it, which might take me two years or more, and the people I know best don't know what I'm writing about.” PeopleKnowsWritingYearsTwoWholeMightNovelTwo YearsTake MeSecretive Author:Alice Mattison
“I get to a certain point, and I think in a novel it's about the third draft, when I want other eyes on it.” ThinkingWantEyeCertainNovelThirds Author:Alice Mattison