Home / Quotes / Quote by Alice Mattison

Quote by Alice Mattison

“I've been astonished how often, when I convince a writer to tell a story more straightforwardly and to tell it more simply and directly, it turns out that this author is great and the story is wonderful.”

Quote by Alice Mattison

Author

Alice Mattison is an individual whose profession and category are unknown. Specific information about her life experience, achievements, and contributions is limited. more

You May Also Like

“If you have a character stand up and put on her shoes and open the door, in order to do that, you're imagining her shoes and her clothes and her house and her door. The character becomes more real. But once you've done that, you can probably just get it all across with a couple of details.”

Ifs Real Done Character Order House Doors Couple Clothes Shoes Details

Author:Alice Mattison

“We're always inventing, even if we're making someone who's fairly close to ourselves.”

Author:Alice Mattison

“It's a scary thing for fiction writers, when you're always writing from the point of view both as and for someone who is different.”

Writing Different Views Fiction Scary Point Of View Fiction Writers Scary Things

Author:Alice Mattison

“I think we need to develop the courage to write from the viewpoint of people who may seem quite different from ourselves, who might have a different sexual orientation or a different race or a different ethnicity.”

People Thinking Needs Writing May Different Seems Might Race Orientation Viewpoints Ethnicity Different Races

Author:Alice Mattison

“I think the difference between writing as someone and writing for them is that when you write for someone, you take on a kind of political burden or message, which I don't think we have the right to do.”

Thinking Writing Kind Political Differences Messages Burden

Author:Alice Mattison

“I don't think a white person can write accurately and convincingly about what black people experience of oppression.”

People Thinking Writing Persons Black White Oppression Black People

Author:Alice Mattison

“Anyone with an imagination can write about the day-to-day experiences of someone he or she is not.”

Writing Imagination Day To Day

Author: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.”

People Thinking Knows Want Writing Looks Sometimes Stories Answers Views Know How Car Keys Point Of View Murderer Sympathetic Car 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.”

Way Mean Persons Enough Running House Loss Car Keys Gun Traffic Murderer Purses Car 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.”

People Thinking Wells Different Hard Feelings Order Easy Stuff Emotion Wonderful Easier Pages Opposites Harder Shy Over It Spontaneous Pouring Methodology Be Spontaneous

Author:Alice Mattison