You can't make a living as a playwright. You can barely scrape by. Sam Shepard More Quotes by Sam Shepard More Quotes From Sam Shepard Caryl Churchill is a writer of some note, but in the sack, she makes me explain everything. Sam Shepard notes It's hard to explain why exactly, but I think that when I began writing plays, it was from an actor's point of view more than anything. I had the feeling that if you put yourself in the position of the actor on stage and write from that perspective, it would give you a certain advantage in terms of being inside of the play. Sam Shepard views writing thinking I didn't go out of my way to get into this movie stuff. I think of myself as a writer. Sam Shepard stuff way thinking I was shot in the wrist when I was a kid. Deliberately. Sam Shepard wrists shots kids My dad's side of the family ... they're a real bizarre bunch, going back to the original colonies. That side's got a real tough strain of alcoholism. It goes back generations and generations, so that you can't remember when there was a sober grandfather. Sam Shepard dad real grandfather Ive been so spoiled in the theater, writing plays where I can just do exactly what I want and nobody messes with me. Sam Shepard want play writing After the falling out with my father, I worked on a couple of ranches - thoroughbred layup farms, actually - out toward Chino, California. That was fine for a little while, but I wanted to get out completely, and twenty miles away wasnt far enough. Sam Shepard couple father fall If you start trying to figure out yourself from the image everyone has of you, you run into a dead end. Sam Shepard dead end yourself you To sit on a ranch horse that's been broken in, it's like getting in a Porsche. Sam Shepard sit like horse broken I always thought the desert was the antithesis of peace - something that attacks you. So you don't go to the desert for peace. Sam Shepard thought you desert peace When I just sit around my house and work, I can work two, three hours, and then I go off and ride a horse or do something that I perceive to be a lot more fun. Sam Shepard ride horse work fun Myth is a powerful medium because it talks to the emotions and not the head. It moves us into an area of mystery. Sam Shepard head emotions mystery powerful Writing for the theatre is so different to writing for anything else. Because what you write is eventually going to be spoken. That's why I think so many really powerful novelists can't write a play - because they don't understand that it's spoken - that it hits the air. They don't get that. Sam Shepard understand think you theatre All good writing comes out of aloneness. Sam Shepard out good good-writing writing I stay away from heavy-handed stuff, the good guy and the bad guy. It just doesn't interest me; all it does is create more fences between people, I think. Sam Shepard good think me people I basically live out of my truck - I mean from place to place. I feel more at home in my truck than just about anywhere, which is a sad thing to say, but it's true. Sam Shepard feel place sad home The thing about American writers is that, as a group, they get stuck in the same idea: that we're a continent and the world falls away after us. And it's just nonsense. Sam Shepard american group nonsense world I'm a great believer in chaos. I don't believe that you start with a formula and then you fulfill the formula. Chaos is a much better instigator, because we live in chaos - we don't live in a rigorous form. Sam Shepard better great you believe A good actor always sets you straight. If you've written a false moment and thought it was probably pretty great, the actor's gonna show you when he gets to that moment. They're the great test of the validity of the material. Sam Shepard great good moment you
