I come from a tiny mining town in the rainforest in an island at the end of the world. My grandparents were illiterate. Richard Flanagan More Quotes by Richard Flanagan More Quotes From Richard Flanagan I had some bad jobs when I was young. Writing is not one of them. If you're fortunate enough to reach my age, to still be writing, you have to be grateful, and I am. I've been lucky. For many years, all I've done is writing, and it's all I've ever wanted to do. Richard Flanagan grateful writing jobs We live in a material world, not a dramatic one. Richard Flanagan material-world dramatic world I think it's common sense to shy away from the erotic. Perhaps this grand experiment, which started with Lady Chatterley's Lover, of seeing what you can write and how you can write about sex, has reached a certain weary terminus with Fifty Shades of Grey. Richard Flanagan writing sex thinking I think writing should be about change. Richard Flanagan should writing thinking A writer has to stand outside the page. It's not for the writer to shed tears onto the pages for these characters. It's not for him to suffer or to laugh or to experience ecstasy or agony in the manner of the characters on the pages. Richard Flanagan agony character laughing I think sometimes writers must attempt to communicate the incommunicable, because, whether they wish it or not, they're the ones to whom it falls. Richard Flanagan wish fall thinking Most of us have loved. And the terror for a writer is that readers will forgive you so much, but they won't forgive you one false note about love, about which they too are expert. Richard Flanagan notes forgiving experts The fallacy is that you have to hold some sort of stake in the grief or horror in order to write about it - I think the opposite is true. Richard Flanagan grief writing thinking What you're constantly seeking isn't a style, but a transparency between your soul and the words. And your soul is ever in flux, so therefore you have to constantly find new forms of words that might be able to register these changes in the soul. Richard Flanagan style soul might In the end you're not made or broken by prizes. Your relationship is with your readers, not a prize, and you just have to keep on honoring that. Richard Flanagan our-relationship broken ends Love is the scent of a sleeping back, death a slight draft of bad breath. Richard Flanagan scent sleep love-is You have to attempt to find new forms that will force you to write freshly and better and hopefully more truthfully. Richard Flanagan force form writing I do feel like a fraud a lot of the time because I've never been interested in people who say 'I'm a writer', 'I'm an artist'. Too much is made of the role and not enough of the work. We are such a celebrity-driven age and a status-driven age, that the status becomes more important than the actual work. Richard Flanagan important artist people Film is the art of turning money into light, and light into money. But it begins with money. Richard Flanagan film light art When forging money, I had always salved my conscience by concluding that I was merely extending the lie of commerce. Richard Flanagan extending commerce lying One cannot distinguish between human and non-human acts. One cannot point, one cannot say this man here is a man and that man there is a devil. Richard Flanagan devil humans men We remember nothing. Maybe for a year or two. Maybe most of a life, if we live. Maybe. But then we will die, and who will ever understand any of this? And maybe we remember nothing most of all when we put our hands on our hearts and carry on about not forgetting. Richard Flanagan heart hands years The path to survival was to never give up on the small things. Richard Flanagan giving-up survival path Writing reminds you that you're never alone. Writing and reading is to be optimistic. Richard Flanagan reading writing art Family matters, friends matter, love matters. Those you love and who love you matter. That's what writing does - it allows you to say all those things. Richard Flanagan you friends family love
