I'm interested in reality but I'm not interested in realism at all. Lynne Tillman More Quotes by Lynne Tillman More Quotes From Lynne Tillman Writing and rewriting are the same thing to me. I don't believe what Allen Ginsberg said that "first thought, then - " I just don't believe that. Lynne Tillman writingbelievefirsts You have to create the space for the possibility of people speaking as they do. If writing is supposed to lead us in any way or educate or suggest other ways of being, it can't do so by simply reflecting what's considered to be realistic. Lynne Tillman spacewritingpeople I'm interested in reality but I'm not interested in realism at all. I'm interested in the ways that I think people want to relate. Lynne Tillman realitypeoplethinking I like to invent the dialogue that I want to have heard. Lynne Tillman dialogueheardwant When something in a sequence is edited, if you repeat an image, but in a different place, the effect is different. Because the brain is remembering, and the different juxtaposition triggers other memories, thoughts, ideas, and so on. Lynne Tillman brainmemoriesideas I don't think anybody says to Coetzee or Dostoyevsky or Kafka, "Your characters aren't likeable." It's not about your character winning a popularity contest. That's not the writer's job. Lynne Tillman winningjobscharacter As a reader myself, which precedes my being a writer, of course, I read in order to enter another world. Lynne Tillman readerorderworld You learn to read in kindergarten or first grade, and suddenly there's this other world that isn't your family or your school or your friends. It's something else. Lynne Tillman other-worldsschoolfirsts I think many writers really believe that being published is a traumatic experience. Lynne Tillman traumatic-experiencesbelievethinking It's not the writer who determines how good she is anyway. Writers don't determine that. It's readers who determine that. Lynne Tillman determinereader I think it's very hard to reconcile oneself to the notion that it may not matter what you think if you still want to write. Lynne Tillman writingmaythinking In depression, you're flattened. Your energy level is gone. When I'm anxious, I tend to have more energy. But it depends on the nature of the anxiety. The anxiety to finish something would seem to be more productive than the anxiety that says, "You're feeling sick." Lynne Tillman anxietysickfeelings You could say this word is better to use than that word, this sentence is good and that sentence isn't. But you don't determine the value of your work for other people. Lynne Tillman determineusepeople It wasn't that I wanted to be an artist. But when I took my first drawing class with the painter Doug Ohlson, I could never finish a drawing. Lynne Tillman drawingartistclass I do think we think repetitively. It's so hard to get certain thoughts out of your head. If you're angry at a friend, you're going to keep going back to that conversation. Lynne Tillman certainconversationthinking
