As a writer, I can live somewhat independently, occupying nooks and crannies and finding meaning there. I can even live in my mind a good portion of most days. Bonnie Jo Campbell More Quotes by Bonnie Jo Campbell More Quotes From Bonnie Jo Campbell Mostly the natural landscapes work as a sounding board for my characters, so they can understand themselves, and it acts as a mirror in which we readers see ourselves. The natural world is the place into which all my characters have to situate themselves in order to be who they really are, and that makes my rural fiction feel different from a lot of urban fiction. Bonnie Jo Campbell differentcharacterworld We know that we need to explore desire in fiction - many say that the only way a story exists is that a character feels a strong desire - and nature is the place where creatures act on their desires in the most pure way imaginable, so maybe nature also works as a metaphor for whatever emotional troubles my characters have to negotiate. I'm interested in my characters as survivors, and maybe that works best when the old-fashioned notion of humans surviving in wilderness is not too far away. Bonnie Jo Campbell emotionalstrongcharacter Mothers aren't allowed to have favorite children! Bonnie Jo Campbell motherchildren The great thing about fiction is that I don't have to settle on an answer to any troubling question, or even a solution. I hope that my stories serve as explorations and help show readers how and why real-life women don't always make the "correct" decisions in the face of economic and sexual troubles. We all screw up, but the women I write about don't have back-up plans or money in the back or resources to fix what they have broken. Bonnie Jo Campbell brokendecisionwriting Any of us who listen to the news or listen to stories our neighbors tell are accustomed to violence. We have to decide then to ignore the violence and create a gentler world in our fiction, or to heighten the violence through the use of point-of-view in order to explore it and gain some insight and understanding. Since I'm living with the violence and trouble in my brain, it's kind of a relief to write about it, to get it on paper, to put it in context, to find meaning in it. Bonnie Jo Campbell understandingbrainwriting I wasn't writing stories with the intention of creating a particular collection. I simply wrote stories, and then discovered common themes among a good number of them. Bonnie Jo Campbell creatingwritingnumbers I'm of the people in the bar and the people in my stories. They are my tribe. Bonnie Jo Campbell barsstoriespeople I didn't actually figure out how to get guidance, so I just decided to go to school at University of Southern California because they sent me a glossy brochure. Bonnie Jo Campbell californiasouthernschool That was a mistake, I guess, going out to California. They have these things called guidance counselors in high school. They drink a lot of herbal tea. Bonnie Jo Campbell californiamistakeschool I think back when I was kind of a crappy writer, I really did know my time was better spent working and having adventures and seeing the world. Bonnie Jo Campbell adventureworldthinking Time is never wasted coming to an old man bar. Bonnie Jo Campbell old-manbarsmen That's why I have to be a fiction writer, because I can't remember what just happened or where I went last week or what movie I just watched with my husband. I'm better off just making things up. Bonnie Jo Campbell lastshusbandfiction That's where I live, a junkyard in a neighborhood of junkyards. We have three tractors from the 1940s and '50s, several old pickup trucks, and a pile of scrap metal. Bonnie Jo Campbell tractorstruckthree Donkeys are the most misunderstood and abused animals around the world. Bonnie Jo Campbell misunderstoodanimalworld I grew up with donkeys, as well as horses, but I'm more interested in donkeys. Bonnie Jo Campbell horsegrew-updonkey I worked probably fewer jobs than most people, or fewer real soul-killing jobs than other people. I've been a typist, a typesetter, a keyliner, cappuccino-maker. I think I've been pretty lucky. Bonnie Jo Campbell realjobsthinking I was unhappy and I couldn't figure out what was the matter. And he told me to go take a writing course. And I didn't even know that one could learn to write in writing courses. Bonnie Jo Campbell unhappymatterwriting In fact, when I finally realized I was really going to write, when I was about thirty-four, I was working on my Ph.D. in Mathematics. I was just about to earn my Master's along the way, but I knew something was wrong because I found myself crying all the time. Bonnie Jo Campbell fourwritingway People seem to want to read more nonfiction than fiction. Bonnie Jo Campbell wantpeoplefiction Nobody tells young writers it's okay if you're not very good, you'll get better. So I just thought I'm not very good, so I should try to do every other thing besides writing. That's how I ended up being a hitchhiker, a world traveler, and a mathematician. Bonnie Jo Campbell get-betterwritingtrying
