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John Dufresne Quotes about Writing

All John Dufresne Quotes Character Gossip Pleasure Reading Writing quotes
Love is anticipation and memory, uncertainty and longing. It’s unreasonable, of course. Nothing begins with so much excitement and hope and pleasure as love, except maybe writing a story. And nothing fails as often,

Love is anticipation and memory, uncertainty and longing. It’s unreasonable, of course. Nothing begins with so much excitement and hope and pleasure as love, except maybe writing a story. And nothing fails as often, except writing stories. And like a story, love must be troubled to be interesting.

John Dufresne
Memories, Writing, Love Is
John Dufresne (2008). “Love Warps the Mind a Little: A Novel”, p.140, W. W. Norton & Company

Writing a story, you understand, is not done by consensus. But we do learn from each other, and we remind ourselves how important this work we're doing is.

John Dufresne
Writing, Important, Stories
Source: therumpus.net

Novels are written, not wished into existence. You have to sit your ass in the chair or nothing gets done.

John Dufresne
Writing, Done, Ass
John Dufresne (2010). “Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months”, p.15, W. W. Norton & Company

You will feel discouraged; you will lose confidence in your abilities; you will be bored with the characters–and the only way to overcome these obstacles is to write your way through them. And writing always works.

John Dufresne
Writing, Character, Bored

Actually, my first literary heroes were the Romantic poets, so I began to get serious by writing poems. I have notebooks full of them that I cherish but am afraid to look at.

John Dufresne
Notebook, Hero, Writing
Source: therumpus.net

I was always writing. I just didn't know if I was any good.

John Dufresne
Writing, Knows, Ifs
Source: therumpus.net

I write with a fountain pen. And then revise word by word and line by line so that the first draft of a scene is usually the tenth or so draft.

John Dufresne
Writing, Lines, Firsts
Source: therumpus.net

It's easier to write about a place sometimes when you've left it, when you can apply your imagination to your memory and let your emotions guide the writing about a place.

John Dufresne
Memories, Writing, Imagination
Source: therumpus.net

Place is character. And all writing is regional.

John Dufresne
Writing, Character
Source: therumpus.net

What you create when you're teaching fiction writing is a kind of literary salon, not a social club or a mutual admiration society, not a debating society, not a repair shop, not a fight club or a soap box. It's a place to have a conversation about a story.

John Dufresne
Teaching, Writing, Fighting
Source: therumpus.net

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