I was too prissy, too refined, too abstemious, too French to be a good American writer. — Edmund White Copy Share Image
Most writers tend to get worse rather than better. I'm determined to be one that gets better. — Edmund White Copy Share Image
It always seemed much better to be a writer - a Real Writer - than a successful hack. — Edmund White Copy Share Image
Ive always seen writing as a way of telling the truth. For me, writing is about truth. I have always tried to… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
Some writers are so enthralled by ideas (one thinks of Doris Lessing) that their characters become debaters, and their fables approach allegory. — Edmund White Copy Share Image
“I'm sorry," Billy says, "but I felt it was too organized. I like ellipses and teeny jottings and spontaneous poems and particularly… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
I've always seen writing as a way of telling the truth. For me, writing is about truth. I have always tried to… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
A straight writer can write a gay novel and not worry about it, and a gay novelist can write about straight people. — Edmund White Copy Share Image
Tennessee Williams recognized that great theater begins with great talkers, and that great talkers obey two rules: they never sound like anyone… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
“Writers say two things that strike me as nonsense. One is that you must follow an absolute schedule everyday. If you're not… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
I hate writing. I almost never write. I write against deadlines. And when I'm teaching, I'm focused on that. — Edmund White Copy Share Image
I changed my writing style deliberately. My first two novels were written in a very self-consciously literary way. After I embraced gay… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
If I had been straight, I would have been an entirely different person. I would never have turned toward writing with a… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
Everyone seems agreed that writing about sex is perilous, partly because it threatens to swamp highly individualised characters in a generic, featureless… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
Few writers in history have ever been 'politically correct' (a notion that rapidly changes in any case), and there's no reason to… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
While writing 'City Boy,' I relied mainly on my own memories. In particular, I was able to describe the effect of gay… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
Sharona Muir has written a gripping personal memoir about her odyssey to rediscover and reclaim her father. Along the way she uncovers… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
I never liked my father. He really was a dullard and misanthrope. My mother and he were married for 22, years and… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
There is a whole industry in America of people who want to write, and those who teach it. Even if the students… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
I didn't want to write a biographie romancee especially since I already write novels, nor did I want to challenge the rules… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
The talk shows in the States want celebrities, not authors. In France, it is different; writers are called upon to comment on… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
I was working for Time-Life Books from 1962 to 1970, as a staff writer, and after that, I was a journalist. Eventually,… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
The French are pretty thin-skinned. The few times I mentioned a French writer in 'City Boy,' the relatives would ring up in… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
I can think of no other writer who so thoroughly embodies the Jamesian spirit as Alison Lurie. Like him she can excavate… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
Part of my problem as a young writer was that I was too much a New Yorker, always second-guessing the 'market.' I… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
From an early age, I had the idea that writing was truth-telling. It's on the record. Everybody can see it. Maybe it… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
The talk shows in the States want celebrities, not authors. In France, it is different; writers are called upon to comment on everything. They… — Edmund White Copy Share
Just like Barack Obama, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and now I am a reluctant groom. — Edmund White Copy Share
In 'A Boy's Own Story' and 'Jack Holmes and His Friend,' my idea was to take someone totally different from my real self and,… — Edmund White Copy Share
Everyone seems agreed that writing about sex is perilous, partly because it threatens to swamp highly individualised characters in a generic, featureless activity (much… — Edmund White Copy Share
'The Sound of Things Falling' may be a page turner, but it's also a deep meditation on fate and death. Even in translation, the… — Edmund White Copy Share
If you're a beach person or a golfer, Key West is not for you. Most of the sand has been imported, and the water… — Edmund White Copy Share
First, I was opposed to gay marriage because it seemed like one more way that gays were wanting to assimilate. When I realized the… — Edmund White Copy Share
From my mother I learned just how violent and unquenchable a woman's loneliness can be. She had been sheltered excessively by her husband and… — Edmund White Copy Share
From an early age, I had the idea that writing was truth-telling. It's on the record. Everybody can see it. Maybe it goes back… — Edmund White Copy Share
Since, in the best Southern tradition, I was named Edmund Valentine White III, sometimes when people look up my books on Amazon they find… — Edmund White Copy Share
When I was young, I despised old people. I was provincial and narrow-minded. It's the reason I stayed stupid so long. If you only… — Edmund White Copy Share
Key West is the place where your sickly house plant back in New York grows to 10 ft. It's also the place where an… — Edmund White Copy Share
“In the past, when gays were very flamboyant as drag queens or as leather queens or whatever, that just amused people. And most of… — Edmund White Copy Share
When a woman falls in love with me, I feel guilty. I am convinced that it's pure obstinacy that keeps me from reciprocating her… — Edmund White Copy Share
While writing 'City Boy,' I relied mainly on my own memories. In particular, I was able to describe the effect of gay liberation on… — Edmund White Copy Share
