Patrick deWitt Quotes
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Love is dangerous; it's not something to be trifled with. As good as it feels on the way in, it feels that much worse on the way out.
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The hardest thing in the world for a writer is to amass a readership. So many good books come out, and so many good books disappear.
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As a reader I want to be present and entertained. I don't want to be taught lessons, and I don't want to be spoken down to. I want to be treated as a peer and to be made to feel welcome.
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I'm never doing anything by rote. I'm only on thin ice, and I think that that's a good place to be. I feel like when you push yourself like that, the rewards can be pretty great.
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If I were to continue to work in an established mode, it stands to reason the work would be limited by this - that it would never surpass the prior work in quality.
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When you meet someone you love, whether or not they love you back, something occurs in you that makes you want to improve yourself.
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The initial spark, your affection for the characters, all those things can disappear. It's a perilous thing.
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I was halfway through a rough draft of 'The Sisters Brothers' when it came time to start the 'Terri' adaptation.
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'The Sisters Brothers' has endeared so many prize juries because the Western format has more of a broad appeal and is familiar to readers.
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I've got a publicist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt who's been working little miracles for me, but it's true the budgets aren't what they once were in terms of advertisement and book tours.
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Lies can be wonderful things, and when a lie is told artfully, if it's done with a degree of craftsmanship, I can't help but admire the liar.
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The nice thing about writing at home is that it's almost as though I'm doing it already. I get out of bed thinking of my work, and I don't have to go anywhere to do it.
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I've always felt so fortunate to have writing to turn to every day. I'm obsessed with it.
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The question of likability is a bit of a puzzler for me. You know, I don't write people with likability in mind. It's more whether or not I find them compelling.
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Often the starting point for characters, for me, is finding a little, most minor detail, and I'll go from there.
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When your protagonist bores you, you're in trouble.
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'The Sisters Brothers' started out as a little bit of dialogue between these two men who became Eli and Charlie Sisters.
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I carry a small spiral notebook with me at all times and have been doing this for many years. There's a shoe box in my closet filled with these notebooks, each riddled with notes and impressions, ideas, schemes, and soup recipes.
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I know a lot of people who use the Internet really wisely. It enriches their lives in some way.
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More and more, I find myself turning away from everything relating to contemporary society. I don't know how healthy it is, but I am creating a very private bubble that I live in.
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I am a bit prudish, I think. It's hard for me to write about sex, and I don't really care to read about it, either.
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Bernie Madoff is probably more nuanced then I'm giving him credit for, but I just couldn't get under his skin.
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I am increasingly unimpressed by works of art that require a college degree to understand. I think that art should be for everyone. And people should be moved by it.
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I have a paranoia that 'Ablutions' is the best thing I'll ever do.