“We face a climate crisis now that is the most serious challenge our civilization has ever confronted. And the greatest country in the world [America] has to remain a part of this unprecedented global agreement to deal with it.” WorldCountryAmericaFacesChallengesDealsSeriousCivilizationCrisisClimateAgreementUnprecedented Author:Al Gore
“I have a process that I seem to always, to some degree, as a writer, adhere to, but I certainly have never imposed the way I write a novel on my students. When I had students, I never said, "You should never start writing a novel until you have the last sentence." I never did that, and I wouldn't do it now, but people now seem so interested in the process [of writing fiction] that I have to constantly make it clear when I describe mine that I'm not being prescriptive. I'm not proselytizing.” PeopleWayShouldWritingSaidSeemsLastsProcessFictionNovelClearStudentsMinesDegreesSentencesWriting FictionProselytizing 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
“It is much easier to be flexible about where a story begins than it ever was for me to change my mind about where and how a story ended.” MindStoriesEasierFlexible Author:John Irving
“The concept of writing a novel and not knowing where it's going - I don't know how to do that. Novels are plot- and character-driven, so if I don't know what becomes of people, how can I know where it should begin?” PeopleIfsKnowsShouldWritingCharacterNovelKnow HowKnowingConceptsDrivenPlotNot Knowing Author:John Irving
“The book works better if I know everything I can about the ending. Not just what happens, but how it happens and what the language is; not just the last sentence, but enough of the sentences surrounding that last sentence to know what the tone of voice is. I imagined it as something almost musical. Then you are writing toward something; you know the sound of your voice at the end of the story. That's how you want to sound in those final sentences: the degree that it is uplifting or not, the degree that it is melancholic or not.” IfsKnowsWantWritingI CanBookEndsEnoughStoriesHappensLastsLanguageSoundVoiceDegreesFinalsMusicalSentencesUpliftingTone Author:John Irving
“For most of my life, when I've finished the book I'm writing, there've always been as many as two or three other novels waiting to be written next. And the decision driving which one of them it should be was never based on how long it had waited or how many accumulated pages of notes I had.” ShouldWritingLongTwoBookThreeNextWaitingDecisionNovelWrittenPagesNotesFinishedDriving Author:John Irving
“When writing a novel, I'm not smart enough to know how to foreshadow something if I don't know what it is.” IfsKnowsWritingEnoughNovelKnow HowSmart Author:John Irving
“The ability to see the future can be a burden, and the younger you are and the more isolated you feel, maybe the more of a burden it is.” FeelsAbilityBurdenIsolatedAbility To See Author:John Irving
“I've always been interested in miracles, or the miraculous of the unexplained. I don't scoff at what makes people believe or want to believe. I think I understand the tremendous attraction of the mysteries of the church to the same degree that I understand and appreciate the frustration people feel, especially believers, with the human rule-making arm of the church, with the not-miraculous part of the church - any church.” PeopleThinkingWantFeelsBelieveHumansChurchMysteryArmsDegreesAppreciateMiracleAttractionBelieverFrustrationMiraculousUnexplained Author:John Irving
