I think people feel for a long time that they ought to know how to write a novel in two drafts. Alice Mattison More Quotes by Alice Mattison More Quotes From Alice Mattison I had never written about what it's like to live the life of a writer, and I had never read a book that combined talking about the life of writing and how you can do it, how you can stand it, how you can emotionally manage it, with the choices that we all make on the page. Alice Mattison live-lifewritingbook I think that inevitably, the trouble our characters go through is a kind of metaphor for what's happening in ourselves. Alice Mattison kindcharacterthinking We have to give our poor, innocent, and undeserving-of-our-badness characters trouble in order to make them characters in a story. Alice Mattison givingcharacterorder I think a day in your life on which nothing bad happens may be a wonderful day, but it probably isn't going to be the basis of a story. Alice Mattison storiesmaythinking Sometimes I write well when I'm very upset. Alice Mattison upsetwritingsometimes Telling someone to be confident in the abstract is not going to make it easier for the unconfident writer to actually get herself or himself to the point of being able to put in the upsetting stuff. Alice Mattison upsetablestuff Even murderers, I suppose, experience the loss of car keys the way the rest of us do. I mean, how can they not? Once you make this person scramble around the house looking for her car keys and finally find them, get in the car, and run into traffic, we can identify with her enough that when she stops the car and pulls the gun out of her purse and heads in to kill somebody, we'll be with her as much as is possible. Alice Mattison lossrunningmean For some people, it's very easy to be spontaneous and they can pour out the most wonderful stuff. But it's really hard to exert control over it, to think, 'Well, this could be different. This could go in the opposite order, there could be more here and less there.' For other people, it's much easier to have rules and a methodology, but much harder to let loose and allow their feelings to come pouring out on the page. They're more shy or they're just more distant from their emotions. I think everybody starts with one or the other. Alice Mattison oppositesorderthinking There is a lot of censorship about writing that's exerted from all directions, from families or governments and society, even the fear of being offensive in some way. Alice Mattison governmentwritingway Little children are all writers. Alice Mattison littleschildren When I've taught writing to five, six, and seven year olds, it's not very different than talking to an adult writer. They're writers then, and when they get to be young teenagers they're not anymore. You might go and talk to them about writing, and they'll be very self-conscious or will have detached themselves from the group. Alice Mattison teenagerselfwriting I love it when people can help me with my work, so I do show it. Alice Mattison help-mehelpingpeople I get to a certain point, and I think in a novel it's about the third draft, when I want other eyes on it. Alice Mattison eyewantthinking I'm very secretive. I'll write a whole novel and revise it, which might take me two years or more, and the people I know best don't know what I'm writing about. Alice Mattison writingtwoyears I love to read nonfiction and memoir, but I'm mostly interested in the piece of writing more than the person. Alice Mattison nonfictionpieceswriting There seems to be a tremendous desire among many people now to know authors and how they work, to know what's autobiographical and what isn't. Alice Mattison knowsdesirepeople I actually think it's sometimes easier for the control freaks to let loose. Alice Mattison freaksometimesthinking I remember I had had one woman who had three or four kids, and some of them were having problems. I said, 'Maybe you could go write somewhere else, away from your house.' And sure enough, all kinds of wonderful stuff emerged. She was keeping too much charge of herself because she couldn't stop being a mother when she was in the house. You have to find your own way of letting loose, if you're one of those people. Alice Mattison motherwritingkids Sometimes it's interesting to see what people who have too much control need to do to write freely. Alice Mattison writingpeopleinteresting You can't tell a writer they should just be more confident. Alice Mattison should
