Ann Beattie Quotes

Quotes about:

• People forget years and remember moments.

  Ann Beattie

  Years, People, Remember

  48 Copy quote

• Because I don’t work with an outline, writing a story is like crossing a stream, now I’m on this rock, now I’m on this rock, now I’m on this rock.

  Ann Beattie

  Writing, Rocks, Stories

  Ann Beattie (2011). “The New Yorker Stories”, p.532, Simon and Schuster

  21 Copy quote

• What will happen can't be stopped. Aim for Grace.

  Ann Beattie

  Grace, Aim, Happens

  Ann Beattie (2011). “Burning House”, p.23, Vintage

  5 Copy quote

• the real killer was when you married the wrong person but had the right children.

  Ann Beattie

  Marriage, Children, Real

  Ann Beattie (2011). “Falling in Place”, p.47, Vintage

  5 Copy quote

• Any life will seem dramatic if you omit mention of most of it.

  Ann Beattie

  Dramatic, Seems, Ifs

  5 Copy quote

• Clichés so often befall vain people.

  Ann Beattie

  People, Vain

  Ann Beattie (2010). “Walks With Men: Fiction”, p.13, Simon and Schuster

  15 Copy quote

• I think almost always that what gets me going with a story is the atmosphere, the visual imagery, and then I people it with characters, not the other way around.

  Ann Beattie

  Character, Thinking, People

  10 Copy quote

• Whatever one intends, the work takes on a life of its own.

  Ann Beattie

  "Remaining Open To Surprise". Interview with Claire Luchette, electricliterature.com. August 27, 2015.

  6 Copy quote

• It seems to me that the problem with diaries, and the reason that most of them are so boring, is that every day we vacillate between examining our hangnails and speculating on cosmic order.

  Ann Beattie

  Order, Diaries, Problem

  Ann Beattie (2011). “Picturing Will”, p.237, Vintage

  7 Copy quote

• I don't write about things that I have the answers to or things that are very close to home. It just wouldn't be any adventure. It wouldn't have any vitality.

  Ann Beattie

  Travel, Home, Writing

  9 Copy quote

• It's not about having things figured out, or about communicating with other people, trying to make them understand what you understand. It's about a chicken dinner at a drive-in. A soft pillow. Things that don't need explaining.

  Ann Beattie

  People, Trying, Dinner

  Ann Beattie (2010). “Walks With Men: Fiction”, p.77, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

• There is some reason, obviously, that you are drawn to your material, but the way in which you explore it might come to be quite different from what you would expect.

  Ann Beattie

  Writing, Different, Might

  8 Copy quote

• Clouds are poems, and the most moving poems linger on the blackboard so long, written in cursive so lovely, they also exist inside our fingertips. We never really erase them at the end of the lesson.

  Ann Beattie

  Moving, Clouds, Long

  Ann Beattie (2010). “Walks With Men: Fiction”, p.40, Simon and Schuster

  6 Copy quote

• I think I write about things that are mysterious to me.

  Ann Beattie

  Writing, Thinking, Mysterious Things

  7 Copy quote

• While I would agree that I write about serious subjects, and that they're not necessarily the most pleasant subjects or even the most pleasant people, as a writer I just think about the humorous aspects of these things - that's what keeps me going when I'm writing a story.

  Ann Beattie

  Humorous, Writing, Thinking

  5 Copy quote

• The admiration of another writer’s work is almost in inverse proportion to similarities in style.

  Ann Beattie

  Style, Admiration, Proportion

  6 Copy quote

• You have to figure out who the right person is to tell the story. And often, people who are very self-aware will only sound as if they are pontificating if they tell the story.

  Ann Beattie

  Writing, Self, People

  6 Copy quote

• You put a character out there and you're in their power. You're in trouble if they're in yours.

  Ann Beattie

  Character, Trouble, Ifs

  6 Copy quote

• I am not alone in bearing grudges against reviewers who have doomed a book's chances because they've missed the point, the tone, everything.

  Ann Beattie

  Book, Tone, Chance

  5 Copy quote

• It's often been said that I'm an extremely depressing, cynical writer. I've never known what to make of that.

  Ann Beattie

  Depressing, Cynical, Said

  7 Copy quote

• Italics provide a wonderful advantage: you see, right away, that the words are in a rush. When something exists at a slant, you can't help but consider irony.

  Ann Beattie

  Irony, Helping, Wonderful

  Ann Beattie (2010). “Walks With Men: Fiction”, p.4, Simon and Schuster

  5 Copy quote

• I like a lot of Margaret Atwood, I like much of Alice Munro. Again, if you were to ask me about male writers, there's often a novel I admire, but not all of their works.

  Ann Beattie

  Glowing, Males, Admire

  9 Copy quote

• I've spent my life supporting myself.

  Ann Beattie

  5 Copy quote

• Quite often my narrator or protagonist may be a man, but I'm not sure he's the more interesting character, or if the more complex character isn't the woman.

  Ann Beattie

  Character, Men, Interesting

  8 Copy quote

• Also minimalism is a term that all of us who share so little in common and who are lumped together as minimalists are not terribly happy with.

  Ann Beattie

  Together, Littles, Common

  Interview with Neila C. Seshachari, www.weber.edu. December 28, 1989.

  8 Copy quote

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