I'm not particularly good at doodling. I'll doodle the same face over and over again. Meg Wolitzer More Quotes by Meg Wolitzer More Quotes From Meg Wolitzer Objectifying your own novel while writing it never really helps. Instead, I guess while you're writing you need to think: This is the novel I want to write. And when you're done you need to think: This is what the novel I wanted to write feels like and reads like and looks like. Other people might call it sweeping or small, but it's the book you chose. Meg Wolitzer writing book thinking We do seem, as a culture, to fetishize the "sweep." But I know there's room for "big" short, fierce novels, and "big" solid ones. Meg Wolitzer fierce culture rooms We sometimes drive ourselves crazy with how our books will be "seen," when in fact we already know what they're about, and where our obsessions are. If we can spin those obsessions into fiction, then there's a decent chance they will be "fiction-worthy," as you call it. The idea of the "sweep of ideas" is a complicated one. Meg Wolitzer crazy book ideas "Unputdownable" is, I suppose, something we all dream of, maybe without knowing it. I realized, some time ago, that a novel can hold a lot, and it made sense that this one was not of the sleek and economical variety, but instead the "full" type. Novel as piñata. And the reader does the whacking. I had a central idea, which is to look at what happens to talent over time. Meg Wolitzer knowing dream ideas I've been waiting for someone to sign the permission slip for me to write about sex. In the meantime, I've written about sex in all my books anyway. Meg Wolitzer writing book sex When I was in junior high school, friends and I were in a consciousness-raising group, a term that now seems quaint like a butter churn, but it was very powerful. It was a really wonderful experience. Meg Wolitzer friends high-school experience school My being a writer and playing Scrabble are connected. If I have a good writing day, I'll take a break and play online Scrabble. My favorite word as a child was 'carrion,' before I knew what it meant. I later created crossword puzzles, which was a lot about puns, and how words would create these strange, strange things. Meg Wolitzer words day good child When you're writing, it's so absorbing. It's like a drop cloth goes over you, and the world outside falls away, but you do have a miniature version of the world, your own world, that you actually have some control over. I love to work. Meg Wolitzer you work love world I think a lot of the dull parts of first drafts come from a kind of over-managing, intrusive writer who wants to direct traffic. The idea of taking out the parts that the reader could infer is very liberating, and it's weirdly part of radicalizing your work: it allows you to go to new places fast. Meg Wolitzer new think you work I've always been drawn to writing for young readers. The books that I read growing up remain in my mind very strongly. Meg Wolitzer always growing-up mind writing I am a novelist through and through. Meg Wolitzer novelist am i-am through I sometimes feel as if ideas for a novel kind of pop up like numbers in a bingo tumbler, and then they're ready to go. Meg Wolitzer feel numbers sometimes ideas People say, write what you know, but it's really, write about what obsesses you. Write about what you're thinking about all the time. Meg Wolitzer you time people thinking It's hard for me to feel bad when I'm writing well. Meg Wolitzer feel bad me writing I don't write autobiographically. Meg Wolitzer write We all want to write the kind of book that we want to read. If you put in the things that you are thinking about and create characters who feel like they could live - at least for me, that's the way I want to write. Meg Wolitzer feel me you thinking If you've written a powerful book about a woman and your publisher then puts a 'feminine' image on the cover, it 'types' the book. Meg Wolitzer woman you powerful book I think everyone is always measuring themselves against other people to a certain degree; it happens automatically, and it's hard not to be this way at least some of the time. Meg Wolitzer think time people way 'Charlotte's Web,' which I read sitting on my mother's lap, was the most emotional experience: that was when I made the leap from seeing how to untangle words to realizing how books both contain and convey strong feelings. Meg Wolitzer words experience strong mother I really love Scrabble. I played it with my mother growing up. We took it everywhere with us. We didn't know then about the two letter words. Who knew that AA, or more controversially, ZA, or QI were words? We were a games family generally. Meg Wolitzer words family mother love
