Home / Quotes / Quote by Joyce Carol Oates

Quote by Joyce Carol Oates

“Writing is a solitary occupation, and one of its hazards is loneliness. But an advantage of loneliness is privacy, autonomy and freedom.”

Author

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is a renowned American author born on June 16, 1938. Her works span various literary forms such as novels, poetry, and drama, known for her unique narrative techniques and profound thematic explorations. more

“I have myself always been terrified of plagiarism - of being accused of it, that is. Every writer is a thief, though some of us are more clever than others at disguising our robberies. The reason writers are such slow readers is that we are ceaselessly searching for things we can steal and then pass off as our own: a natty bit of syntax, a seamless transition, a metaphor that jumps to its target like an arrow shot from an aluminum crossbow.”

Writing Reason Bits Reader Shots Metaphor Clever Stealing Target Transition Thieves Terrified Accused Arrows Plagiarism Robbery Syntax Seamless Aluminum Being Accused Crossbows

Author:Joseph Epstein

“Writing is like meditation or going into an ESP trance, or prayer. Like dreaming. You are tapping into your unconscious. To be fully conscious and alert, with life banging and popping and cuckooing all around, you are not going to find your way to your subconscious, which is a place of complete submission.”

Way Writing Dream Prayer Meditation Conscious Unconscious Subconscious Submission Trance Banging Tapping Popping Esp

Author:Carolyn Chute

“I think that's what turns young men and women into writers - the happiness you discover living in books.”

Thinking Men Writing Book Young Turns Men And Women Young Man

Author:Paul Auster

“I think a lot of young aspiring writers get misdirected; they think 'I ought to write this, even though I enjoy reading that'. What you have to do is write what you enjoy reading.”

Thinking Writing Young Reading Enjoy Ought Aspiring Writers

Author:Jeffery Deaver

“It is indeed acceptable practice to sometimes split an infinitive. If infinitive-splitting makes available just the shade of meaning you desire or if avoiding the separation creates a confusing ambiguity or patent artificiality, you are entitled to happily go ahead and split!”

Ifs Writing Sometimes Desire Practice Available Separation Shade Acceptable Splits Entitled Avoiding Confusing Ambiguity Patents Splitting Artificiality Infinitive

Book:Lederer on Language: A Celebration of English, Good Grammar, and Wordplay

Source: Lederer on Language: A Celebration of English, Good Grammar, and Wordplay

“We live in a world in which the only utopian visions arrive in commercial breaks: magical visions of an impossibly hospitable world, peopled by bright-eyed attractive men, women, children... Where nobody dies... In my worlds people died. And I thought that was honest. I thought I was being honest.”

People Men World Writing Children Dies Vision Break Honest Died Being Honest Attractive Men Women Utopian Attractive Man

Author:Neil Gaiman

“A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell them to read the story. The meaning of fiction is not abstract meaning but experienced meaning.”

Way Writing Said Stories Would Be Asks Fiction Statements Abstract Inadequate

Book:Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

Source: Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

“We writers don't really think about whether what we write is good or not. It's too much to worry about. We just put the words down, trying to get them right, operating by some inner sense of pitch and proportion, and from time to time, we stick the stuff in an envelope and ship it to an editor.”

Thinking Writing Trying Stuff Worry Too Much Sticks Ships Proportion Editors Envelopes

Author:Garrison Keillor

“We sat around on a hotel balcony with a bottle of wine and tried to figure out how you would go about blowing up a planet. That's the kind of conversations science fiction writers have when they get together. We don't talk about football or anything like that.”

“I'd say art is with you. All around you. I'd say when there doesn't seem to be anyone else, there is art. I'd say you can love art how you wish to be loved. And I'd say art is a lifeline to the rest of us - we are out here. You are not alone. There is nothing about you that scares us. There is nothing unlovable about you, either.”

Writing Art Seems Wish Art Is Scare Not Alone Lifelines Unlovable

Author:Lidia Yuknavitch

Quote by Joyce Carol Oates

Author

You May Also Like