...aware, as always, that the truth isn't much of substitute for a good answer. Richard Russo More Quotes by Richard Russo More Quotes From Richard Russo I think it would be harder for me not to write comedy because the comic view of things is the one that comes most naturally to me. Richard Russo views writing thinking People often ask me how I make things funny. I don't make things funny. Richard Russo ask-me funny-things people I want that which is hilarious and that which is heartbreaking to occupy the same territory in the book because I think they very often occupy the same territory in life, much as we try to separate them. Richard Russo trying book thinking People who imagine themselves to be self-made seldom enjoy examining the process of manufacture in detail. Richard Russo details self people I have to have a character worth caring about. I tend not to start writing books about people I don't have a lot of sympathy for because I'm just going to be with them too long. Richard Russo writing sympathy book Cary Grant never won an Oscar, primarily, I suspect, because he made everything look so effortless. Why reward someone for having fun, for being charming? Richard Russo oscars fun looks Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece. Richard Russo masterpiece ruins beautiful I was pretty dead set against ever writing an academic novel. It's always been my view that there are already more than enough academic novels and that most of them aren't any good. Most of them are self-conscious and bitter, the work of people who want to settle grudges. Richard Russo self views writing Ultimately, your theme will find you. You don't have to go looking for it. Richard Russo theme Movies have to handle time very efficiently. They're about stringing scenes together in the present. Novels aren't necessarily about that. Richard Russo novel scene together When I start getting close to the end of a novel, something registers in the back of my mind for the next novel, so that I usually don't write, or take notes. And I certainly don't begin. I just allow things to percolate for a while. Richard Russo next mind writing In the end it all came down to companionship, to friendship, to sacrifice, to compromise. Richard Russo companionship sacrifice compromise Some authors have a very hard time understanding that in order to be faithful to the spirit of the book, it's almost always impossible to remain faithful to the text. You have to make changes. Richard Russo hard-times order book Since her retirement from teaching Miss Beryl's health had in many respects greatly improved, despite her advancing years. An eighth-grade classroom was an excellent place to snag whatever was in the air in the way of illness. Also depression, which, Miss Beryl believed, in conjunction with guilt, opened the door to illness. Miss Beryl didn't know any teachers who weren't habitually guilty and depressed-guilty they hadn't accomplished more with their students, depressed that very little more was possible. Richard Russo teaching teacher retirement I'm not an easy man. I can be an entertaining one, though it's been my experience that most people don't want to be entertained. They want to be comforted. Richard Russo want men people When I look back over my novels what I find is that when I think I'm finished with a theme, I'm generally not. And usually themes will recur from novel to novel in odd, new guises. Richard Russo odd looks thinking Usually by the time I finish a book tour I've just about had it with the book. Richard Russo finish just time book What does it feel like to be a parent? What does it feel like to be a child? And that's what stories do. They bring you there. They offer a dramatic explanation, which is always different from an expository explanation. Richard Russo feel child you parent
