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Tim OBrien Quotes about Writing

All Tim O'Brien Quotes Dying Heart Hurt Imagination Leaving Lying Memories War Writing quotes
And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do

And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen.

Tim O'Brien
Memories, War, Writing
Tim O'Brien (2009). “The Things They Carried”, p.81, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Writing doesn’t get easier with experience. The more you know, the harder it is to write.

Tim O'Brien
Writing, Easier, Harder

Even now, as I write this, I can still feel that tightness. And I want you to feel it--the wind coming off the river, the waves, the silence, the wooded frontier. You're at the bow of a boat on the Rainy River. You're twenty-one years old, you're scared, and there's a hard squeezing pressure in your chest. What would you do? Would you jump? Would you feel pity for yourself? Would you think about your family and your childhood and your dreams and all you're leaving behind? Would it hurt? Would it feel like dying? Would you cry, as I did?

Tim O'Brien
Dream, Hurt, Writing
Tim O'Brien (2009). “The Things They Carried”, p.54, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

It's very hard to articulate the things that are important about writing.

Tim O'Brien
Writing, Important, Hard

I did not set out to write another novel. One day I sat down with the thought of trying my hand at a piece of nonfiction, a personal memoir of youth, but over the next several weeks, without intending it, the work began evolving into what has become 'Tomcat in Love.

Tim O'Brien
Writing, Hands, Trying

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