Writers are notoriously unable to know about themselves. Faulkner thought 'The Fable' was his best novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald liked 'Tender Is the Night,' an experimental novel. Joyce Carol Oates More Quotes by Joyce Carol Oates More Quotes From Joyce Carol Oates Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul. Joyce Carol Oates reading mean book I never change, I simply become more myself. Joyce Carol Oates never-change How lovely this world is, really: one simply has to look. Joyce Carol Oates lovely looks world Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read. Joyce Carol Oates apology want writing And this is the forbidden truth, the unspeakable taboo - that evil is not always repellent but frequently attractive; that it has the power to make of us not simply victims, as nature and accident do, but active accomplices. Joyce Carol Oates attractive victim evil It's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we really are. Joyce Carol Oates Novels begin, not on the page, but in meditation and day-dreaming - In thinking, not writing. Joyce Carol Oates dream writing thinking Keep a light, hopeful heart. But expect the worst. Joyce Carol Oates hopeful light heart The strangeness of Time. Not in its passing, which can seem infinite, like a tunnel whose end you can't see, whose beginning you've forgotten, but in the sudden realization that something finite, has passed, and is irretrievable. Joyce Carol Oates tunnels change time Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless! Joyce Carol Oates sympathetic editors critics See, people come into your life for a reason. They might not know it themselves, why. You might not know it. But there's a reason. There has to be Joyce Carol Oates reason might people I have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing card…and somehow the activity of writing changes everything. Joyce Carol Oates soul writing cards Ultimately, we measure ourselves against our own ideas of idealism and perfection, and we don't always come very close to them. Joyce Carol Oates idealism perfection ideas When I complete a novel I set it aside, and begin work on short stories, and eventually another long work. When I complete that novel I return to the earlier novel and rewrite much of it. In the meantime the second novel lies in a desk drawer. Joyce Carol Oates stories long lying Running! If there's any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can't think of what it might be. Joyce Carol Oates imagination running thinking Look at the world and see what's there. It's very beautiful. It's a very exciting but in some ways treacherous world, and all this goes into the writing. Joyce Carol Oates writing beautiful looks The mere passage of time makes us all exiles. Joyce Carol Oates passage-of-time passages philosophical Novels usually evolve out of 'character.' Characters generate stories, and the shape of a novel is entirely imagined but should have an aesthetic coherence. Joyce Carol Oates should-have stories character Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor. Joyce Carol Oates noses dirty firsts Any kind of creative activity is likely to be stressful. The more anxiety, the more you feel that you are headed in the right direction. Easiness, relaxation, comfort - these are not conditions that usually accompany serious work. Joyce Carol Oates anxiety creative relaxation
