Home / Quotes / Quote by Mary Kay Zuravleff

Quote by Mary Kay Zuravleff

“Now, as a reader, you shouldn't feel the decisions the writer makes about this DNA, or it would be boring beyond belief. But, as a writer, you're struggling to make these decisions. What should the title be? What's the first line? The point of view? And the struggle with the decisions is because you're trying to figure out WHAT IS THE NOVEL, WHAT IS THE NOVEL?”

Quote by Mary Kay Zuravleff

Author

Mary Kay Zuravleff

Mary Kay Zuravleff is an American short story writer known for her unique narrative style and profound insights into social issues. Her works often focus on personal identity, cultural conflicts, and gender issues, and are highly appreciated by readers. more

You May Also Like

“I realized early on in writing the book that it needed to be from a family point of view, and that nobody outside the family would weigh in. And then well into writing it, the question became how to balance the perspectives; how to switch between chapters.”

Writing Wells Book Views Perspective Needed Balance Point Of View I Realized Chapters

Author:Mary Kay Zuravleff

“In fictional families - in sitcoms, in dramas - the members are sharing huge amounts of their interior lives. And that has not been my real-life experience. In fictional families - in sitcoms, in dramas - the members are sharing huge amounts of their interior lives. And that has not been my real-life experience.”

Real Huge Amount Drama Members Real Life Life Experience Interiors Sitcom Real Life Experiences

Author:Mary Kay Zuravleff

“Math-thinking, I would say, encourages flipping and substituting letters in words (in the novel, one of the boys double-majors in math and myth, for example, and his twin cracks a joke about the father's handwriting that morphs "cacography" into "dadography").”

Thinking Father Boys Novel Example Majors Jokes Letters Math Myth Cracks Twins Handwriting

Author:Mary Kay Zuravleff

“I can be really silly when I'm not actually writing silliness, and I have to rein that in. Pynchon, in my opinion, sometimes tells elaborate shaggy dog stories just to work up to a pun or punch line. My challenge is to use humor and wordplay to reinforce the emotional core of the novel.”

Writing I Can Sometimes Stories Use Challenges Lines Opinion Novel Dog Emotional Core Silly Reins Pun Wordplay Silliness

Author:Mary Kay Zuravleff

“For so many of my characters, they were political in their own countries and they risked their lives for certain political beliefs that they had, only to be brought to America where they're not treated like Americans - they're just not really treated like anything.”

Country Character America Political Certain Belief Treated Political Beliefs

Author:Molly Antopol

“It was this feeling for a lot of my characters, who are dissidents or banned artists and writers, that they had had to fight living under so much surveillance, and then suddenly they come to America and they're like, I'm not being surveilled - I'm not even being noticed at all.”

Character Feelings America Artist Fighting Surveillance Banned Dissidents Artists And Writers

Author:Molly Antopol

“With the Israel stories, it was for me the most surprising way the title would fit in. I kept thinking about, for a lot of my Israeli characters, what it was like to inherit such a complicated and symbiotic relationship to America and to feel how tangled that is, and it's nothing that they chose to do themselves.”

Thinking Way Feels Character Stories America Fit Israel Complicated Titles Surprising Israeli Tangled

Author:Molly Antopol

“I knew that I was writing for an American audience and that if I sold foreign rights, they would retranslate the book to make it make sense to that language. But one thing that was really important to me was not to italicize any of the words in the languages that were in the stories, because I feel like those foreign words felt just as important and integral to the story as everything else, so I wanted it all to just exist as its own thing.”

Ifs Feels Writing Important Book Stories Wanted Language Felt Audience Rights One Thing Make Sense

Author:Molly Antopol

“So it was doing all this research or going to the archives or doing all these interviews or traveling, and then trying as much as I can to delete all of that research in a later draft so that all the reader cares about is the characters.”

Trying I Can Character Care Reader Research Interviews Archives

Author:Molly Antopol

“It's funny - for a long time, I didn't know I was writing a book. I was writing stories. For me, each story took so long and took so much out of me, that when I finished it, I was like, Oh my gosh, I feel like I've poured everything from myself into this, and then I'd get depressed for a week. And then once I was ready to write a new story, I would want to write about something that was completely different, so I would search for a totally different character with a different set of circumstances.”

Knows Want Feels Writing Long Book Different Character Stories Week Ready Circumstances Long Time Finished Writing A Book Different Characters Writing Stories Oh My Gosh

Author:Molly Antopol