Fiction begins with the senses, and the senses go to work in a place. John Dufresne More Quotes by John Dufresne More Quotes From John Dufresne The universe may be tenderly indifferent to our fate, but we shouldn’t be. We are our brothers’ keepers. There is right, and there is wrong. There are consequences to our actions or inactions. Disregard can be an act of violence. John Dufresne fatebrothermay Reading honest literature makes you love the world. Knowledge and understanding are love. Reading educates our feelings and enhances our sympathy. When you read for understanding, you are fundamentally changed. You are a different person at the end of the story or the novel than you were when it began. John Dufresne understandingreadingfeelings The purpose of the first draft is not to get it right, but to get it written. John Dufresne writtenpurposefirsts I grew up in a house without many books. The books the nuns made us read in school didn't interest me. John Dufresne housebookschool Love is anticipation and memory, uncertainty and longing. It’s unreasonable, of course. Nothing begins with so much excitement and hope and pleasure as love, except maybe writing a story. And nothing fails as often, except writing stories. And like a story, love must be troubled to be interesting. John Dufresne writinglove-ismemories Love is always a surprise and you never get it right. John Dufresne surpriselove-is Novels are written, not wished into existence. You have to sit your ass in the chair or nothing gets done. John Dufresne assdonewriting I was reading for understanding. I wanted to do to a reader what Salinger did for me. John Dufresne salingerunderstandingreading You will feel discouraged; you will lose confidence in your abilities; you will be bored with the characters–and the only way to overcome these obstacles is to write your way through them. And writing always works. John Dufresne boredwritingcharacter A lack of narrative structure, as you know, will cause anxiety. John Dufresne narrative-structureanxietycauses We read novels because we need stories; we crave them; we can’t live without telling them and hearing them. Stories are how we make sense of our lives and of the world. When we’re distressed and go to therapy, our therapist’s job is to help us tell our story. Life doesn’t come with plots; it’s messy and chaotic; life is one damn, inexplicable thing after another. And we can’t have that. We insist on meaning. And so we tell stories so that our lives make sense. John Dufresne plotjobsneeds Actually, my first literary heroes were the Romantic poets, so I began to get serious by writing poems. I have notebooks full of them that I cherish but am afraid to look at. John Dufresne notebookherowriting Every act of loving affirms the goodness of the lover just because he is capable of loving and being loved. John Dufresne capableloversgoodness A pure love is a selfless love, but can desire ever be selfless? John Dufresne selflessdesirelove-is Every person in therapy has a love disorder. John Dufresne therapydisorderpersons The facts, however, are unimportant in fiction. It's not the events of my life that I mine, but the emotional experiences I've had. John Dufresne eventsemotionalfiction I used to believe that love and happiness were synonymous. I was a fool. Love intensifies all emotions. Nothing is so painful o so sweet, so thrilling or so desperate... Pleasure is, after all, a luxury. It's love thats essential. You are never so alive as when you love, never so alert, intuitive, attentive, never so smart or so compassionate. John Dufresne smartsweetbelieve You lose a wallet or keys or something and you notice in a second, but your life can go missing and you don't even know it. John Dufresne walletskeysmissing You can't possibly conduct a proper affair without a lot of deliberating, scheming, speculating, and conniving. It's a delicate balance where the excitement must equal the guilt and sex must be as bright as the future you gamble. John Dufresne balanceguiltsex Place is character. And all writing is regional. John Dufresne writingcharacter
