Patrick deWitt Quotes
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I've fallen in love in my life a few times. It's the most exciting part of being alive - that I've experienced, anyway.
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I don't know that I'd call myself an optimist.
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Humorous writing is often thought of as substandard in comparison to work with a more dramatic or tragic intent. I don't know what to say to this except that I disagree wholeheartedly.
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I don't know that happy people are interesting to write about - or to read about.
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I haven't read a lot of Westerns. But I wrote a Western. The influences were all cinematic.
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I heard somewhere that whenever you write a book, people will ask you One Question about it over and over. And while I'm no expert in these matters, this is proving to be true. My first book dealt with a not-that-pleasant degenerate type, and the One Question was, 'Is this an autobiographical story?'
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The impetus for 'The Sisters Brothers' was it occurred to me that there was no neurosis in westerns, or there's a minimal amount of it.
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A lot of my favourite books - I should say, not much happens in the books! It's much more about the points of view of the author more than anything else.
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My instinct is to write under the cloak of an opaque historical setting.
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I am a homebody, something that lends itself to my profession.
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Every industry has slack times, and everyone has bad days at work.
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Certain writers look down their noses at plot, and I think I might have been one of them until I tried it.
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Whenever we changed schools, we had to make a new set of friends. At the time, of course, I hated it. But looking back now, I'm really glad I did, because it forces independence on you.
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The idea is this: It's important to upset one's work habits, to topple the cart for each project.
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I wrote for so many years in a bubble, the way everyone does, and there were large swaths of time where you think you're doing this for nothing. An audience is crucial, a back and forth with the invisible readers.
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All the books I was reading as a teenager were about individuals having adventures. So I thought that was what writers were supposed to do: to go out on the road.
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I've been surprised at how much an unknown like myself can accomplish just by reaching out to people and pleading my case. Quotes for the book cover, reviews and interviews, readings and radio appearances - all this by simply moving ahead and making contact with folks I thought might enjoy the writing.
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I felt like love has been underrepresented - unironic love, just actually really falling in love.
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When you're 8 years old, and you've become subconsciously familiar with the layout and design of Black Sparrow books, and you know the difference between Miles Davis and John Coltrane, something is bound to stick.
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My interest in words and literature is always changing. And every day of work is different, and it doesn't feel laborious in the way that, say, washing dishes did. I'm quite happy to be doing what I'm doing, and I feel very lucky.
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Some deeper part of me wants to write comical dialogue; I'd be foolish to not follow that impulse. Now I recognize that if there's energy to a section of work, you go where the energy is. It's a living thing, and you just follow it.
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By the time I left the bar, I was 30. I was a dishwasher. They call it a bar-back, but essentially, I washed dishes for a living. I had no high-school diploma, I had no agent, and my literary successes were non-existent... but it was the only thing I ever wanted to do, so I did feel trapped.
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My first book didn't even have a Canadian publisher. And that upset me, because I so wanted a readership up there.
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All of my close friends are emotional train wrecks. This is what makes our lives interesting - constantly doubting ourselves, worrying, wondering if we've made a mistake. Could we have done better? Are we good people? Are we bad people?