Most of us dont live lives that lend themselves to novelistic expression, because our lives are so fragmented. Tobias Wolff More Quotes by Tobias Wolff More Quotes From Tobias Wolff But a lot of writers - and I'm one of them - do tend to feel dissatisfied. It makes you a little hard to live with, but it's a goad and does keep you alert and restless. Tobias Wolff doewritinglittles I recall that my workshop leaders were tactful in their ways of acquainting me with my shortcomings as a writer. So much so that I hardly realized they were doing it. I want always to keep that sort of thing in mind when I'm teaching. The way you get better in everything in this life is to make mistakes. Otherwise you're probably doing it right by accident. But you have to do everything wrong before you can really start with some authority to do it right. Tobias Wolff leaderteachingmistake One of the last courses I taught was on the Russian short story, which I love. Tobias Wolff lastsstorieslove Want! You must want something. What do you want? Tobias Wolff want-somethingwant But as my brother was doing his research for a book about my father, it became his opinion that the most influential anti-semitism my father encountered when he was growing up was from Jews, because his relatives were German Jews, and doctors. Tobias Wolff growing-upbrotherfather Work for most people is really very social, and the actual thinking is often done in community. Tobias Wolff workpeoplethinking You have to be kind of clued into them, they are a world of their own, and most people find them disappointing because the best short stories are not constructed like novels. Tobias Wolff best-shortwritingpeople You don't teach information in a writing workshop. Tobias Wolff teachinformationwriting The reader really has to step up to the plate and read a short story. Tobias Wolff shortstepstoryup That, for me, is a very important test of a young writer's commitment because most of them are going to have to continue doing that when they've finished the program. Tobias Wolff doingmeimportantcommitment Anybody can be very destructive in that position without at all meaning to be, and I know that I have been inadvertently destructive in the past for certain people on certain occasions. Tobias Wolff meaningknowpeoplepast Because the more you write the more you're aware of the weight of your tradition and the difficulties of the form and the more you have already done that you do not want to do again. Tobias Wolff difficultiesyoutraditiondone And you can tell the writers who do it - Robert Stone, for example, who with each new novel is doing something new. I appreciate that in other writers. Tobias Wolff stonenewyouappreciate The short story, on the other hand, is the perfect American form. Tobias Wolff shortamericanstoryperfect
