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Quote by Jack Driscoll

“I was once referred to in a Kirkus review as a "northern Michigan version of Andre Dubus." My editor called me after the review came out and asked if I was okay with that. What part? I wondered. Finding myself in the same sentence with Andre Dubus? What could be better than that? Or perhaps - and more likely, my editor meant being pigeonholed as a writer of this remote region "mostly ignored by the rest of the world," as Jim Harrison says.”

Quote by Jack Driscoll

Author

Jack Driscoll, born in 1946, is an accomplished author whose works span various literary genres and have won the hearts of readers. more

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“First of all, I don't think of myself as a northern Michigan writer. I think of myself as an American writer who happens - and yes, by choice, and for a long time now - to live in this particular place, and where, as the joke goes, there are only three seasons: July, August, and winter.”

Thinking Long Choices Jokes Winter American Writer

Author:Jack Driscoll

“Nothing is more fatiguing than winter, the extreme and unrelenting snow and below zero temperatures, and the seemingly unbearable sameness of the days without sunshine, and the measures one takes - if they're locals, permanent residents - against an environment such as this. And most vulnerable/susceptible are the kids, who have no options other than to scheme and dream themselves into all kinds of trouble.”

Kind Dream Kids Environment Trouble Winter Snow All Kinds Vulnerable Sunshine Sameness

Author:Jack Driscoll

“As a writer, I find it a literal impossibility to disengage from whatever the location might be, given how everything that eventually transpires as part of the ongoing narrative is informed by it. In other words, try relocating the stories elsewhere, and what's the effect? They almost immediately cease to exist.”

Trying Elsewhere Impossibility

Author:Jack Driscoll

“I joke sometimes that I live a protracted adolescence, that a part of me will always be twelve years old.”

Sometimes Jokes Adolescence

Author:Jack Driscoll

“I can't really recreate or reconstruct exactly how or from where any of my characters originate, young or old, though chances are at least decent that once I name and begin to know them, young or old, I can then attempt to reveal each as psychologically complex and nuanced, and to speak through them, as William Matthews says, "What it feels like to be human."”

Character Speak Chance Decent

Author:Jack Driscoll

“Compassion is the belief that things might improve, and even when there's little, if anything, to sustain and engender that belief. It's the place from which I write, and the more troubled the circumstances, the deeper into the hearts and psyches of these characters I'm likely to go, opening every door in that dark hallway, and walking all the way in.”

Writing Heart Character Belief Dark Compassion Circumstances Walking Psych

Author:Jack Driscoll

“I am by nature not a list-keeper, but I do keep lists of names and add at least one or two every single day without exception. First names, last names, middle names, combinations of. I've collected more over the years than I can possibly ever use in a single lifetime, but I keep the list going nonetheless. I tell my students that it's a habit, an act of attention, that will keep them engaged, keep them thinking about characters and stories, and how that match might get made.”

Thinking Character Attention Students Habit Lifetime Exception Single Life

Author:Jack Driscoll

“I began as a poet, moved to short fiction, then to novel writing, and, for the past twelve years, back to stories. I sometimes wonder if the pendulum will swing all the way back to where I began. As T.S. Eliot says, "In my end is my beginning," but for now I'm staying put, sitting tight, and loving the short story form way too much to leave it quite yet.”

Writing Sometimes Past Wonder Novel Poet Moved Short Story Eliot

Author:Jack Driscoll

“My music definitely determines the direction we're gonna move in. It's like music, fashion, hair, makeup.”

Moving Fashion Determine Makeup

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“I would say my relationship with my father has had a bigger impact on me than I knew. Even with the things that I love, the things that I am attracted to. A lot of it stems from the things that I've seen in my life as a child.”

Children Father Stem

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