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Quote by Debra Dean

“Once I had started, I discovered the secret pleasure of writing a novel. It's such an immersive, deep commitment. With short stories, you're continually having to start again from scratch, but with a novel you only need one good idea every few years.”

Quote by Debra Dean

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Debra Dean is a renowned author known for her unique writing style and deeply engaging themes. more

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“The trajectory of my writing has moved further and further away from autobiography. My first stories in Confessions of a Falling Woman worked familiar territory - places I had lived, people I knew, my life as an actor in New York - and many were prompted by or grounded in personal experience.”

People Writing Firsts Stories Fall Actors New York Moved Familiar Territory Confession Autobiography Grounded Personal Experiences Trajectory

Author:Debra Dean

“If you had told me twenty years ago that I would write a novel set in Russia, much less two, I simply wouldn't have believed you. I had no familiarity with Russia or its history, but part of what drives me as a reader, and more and more as a writer, is curiosity, the desire to explore unfamiliar terrain and inhabit alternate lives.”

Ifs Writing Years Two Desire Novel Reader Years Ago Twenties Curiosity Russia Familiarity Unfamiliar Terrain

Author:Debra Dean

“With the historical fictions, I was already doing so much research, and so much of the stories was anchored by historical truth that the move to nonfiction didn't feel all that dramatic - just another half-step to the right.”

Feels Stories Moving Half Fiction Steps Research Historical Dramatic Historical Fiction Nonfiction Historical Truth

Author:Debra Dean

“If anything, I've found nonfiction a little easier. You don't have to make anything up. Of course, that's the inherent difficulty as well: when you hit an information black hole, you don't get to make it up. That hasn't come up too often with this project though. I'm lucky to have tons of primary source material , reams of letters and diaries and memoirs.”

Ifs Wells Littles Courses Found Black Information Materials Source Easier Lucky Projects Letters Difficulty Come Up Holes Memoir Primaries Nonfiction Inherent Diaries Black Hole Primary Source

Author:Debra Dean

“That requires quite an imaginative leap because it's hard for me to imagine that my biography would be of much interest to anyone, and because I'm a fairly private person, the notion doesn't appeal to me.”

Persons Hard Would Be Interest Imagine Notion Appeals Leap Imagine That Biographies Imaginative My Biography

Author:Debra Dean

“One of the nice things about moving from acting to writing is that your work can be in the public eye without having to be in the public eye yourself. I guess that's not completely true. If you're lucky - and I have been - there are book tours and lectures. I don't have stage fright, and I enjoy meeting people, so that's easy and enjoyable, but it's not a constant, and it's not celebrity.”

People Ifs Writing Has Beens Book Eye Moving Easy Enjoy Acting Nice Stage Lucky Constant Meetings Lectures Enjoyable Nice Things Fright Public Eye Stage Fright

Author:Debra Dean

“Unless you're Stephen King or Joyce Carol Oates, no one's going to recognize you on the street, and you're promoting your book, not yourself.”

Book Streets Kings Promoting Carols Joyce

Author:Debra Dean

“I just can't fathom tweeting, and I'd rather spend my time writing a book than a blog, but I rather grudgingly agreed to a Facebook page. I had a brief, intense romance with Facebook. It's weirdly addictive, but anything that time-sucking is a danger for a writer who writes as slowly as I do. Now I post only occasionally and nothing very confessional. I think I'm carbon dating myself as I speak.”

Thinking Writing Book Romance Speak Danger Pages Dating Intense Posts My Time Carbon Blogs Writing A Book Fathom Facebook Page

Author:Debra Dean

“I haven't written anything yet that makes me think, This is it! and I don't imagine I ever will. I don't know how it is with you, but when I finish something, even when I'm pleased with the results, it never quite matches the shimmering vision that was out ahead of me as I wrote.”

Thinking Knows Results Vision Know How Imagine Written Havens Never Quit

Author:Debra Dean

“I always think, OK, this is good, but I'll do it better next time. "And so we beat on, boats against the current. . ." It may not be the recipe for a life of contentment, but that imperfectability is what makes writing such an engaging endeavor, something you can do for the rest of your life and not get bored.”

Thinking Writing May Next Can Do Beats Currents Boat Bored Contentment Endeavor Next Time Engaging Recipes Rest Of Your Life

Author:Debra Dean