--- title: "10 Pieces Quotes By Joan Didion" description: "10 Pieces quotes by Joan Didion. Plus more from Joan Didion and more Pieces sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/joan-didion-497_always_once-in-a-while-when-i-first-started-to_2967804.jpg" --- > [Once in a while, when I first started to write pieces, I would try to write to a reader other than myself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/once-in-a-while-when-i-first-started-to-write-pieces-i-would-try-to/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/joan-didion-497_always_once-in-a-while-when-i-first-started-to_2967804.jpg) > [The last sentence in a piece is another adventure. It should open the piece up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/the-last-sentence-in-a-piece-is-another-adventure-it-should-open-the/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c58/joan-didion-497_adventure_the-last-sentence-in-a-piece-is-another_734133.jpg) > [When you're writing fiction, you don't have notes necessarily. You don't carve it, it's not like a piece of sculpture, it's more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/when-you-re-writing-fiction-you-don-t-have-notes-necessarily-you-don/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b26/joan-didion-497_color_when-you-re-writing-fiction-you-don-t-ha_725573.jpg) > [There is always a point in the writing of a piece when I sit in a room literally papered with false starts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/there-is-always-a-point-in-the-writing-of-a-piece-when-i-sit-in-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d62/joan-didion-497_imagine_there-is-always-a-point-in-the-writing-o_1053197.jpg) > [I just read everything I could get my hands on. I taught myself to read or my mother taught me. Who knows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-read-everything-i-could-get-my-hands-on-i-taught-myself-to/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/36e/joan-didion-497_adults_i-just-read-everything-i-could-get-my-ha_1731825.jpg) > [Nonfiction is more personal for me. It's more personal in that it's more direct, and actually it's always been more direct, even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/nonfiction-is-more-personal-for-me-it-s-more-personal-in-that-it-s/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a0/joan-didion-497_always_nonfiction-is-more-personal-for-me-it-s_1754856.jpg) > [Novels are almost like music or poetry - they just come to me in simple sentences, whereas I think my pieces get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/novels-are-almost-like-music-or-poetry-they-just-come-to-me-in-simple/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2d/joan-didion-497_books_novels-are-almost-like-music-or-poetry-t_2638302.jpg) > [Before I'd written movies, I never could do big set-piece scenes with a lot of different speakers - when you've got twelve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/before-i-d-written-movies-i-never-could-do-big-set-piece-scenes-with/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed2/joan-didion-497_ability_before-i-d-written-movies-i-never-could_1379859.jpg) > [If you are doing a piece about somebody, even if you admire them tremendously and express that in the piece, express that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody-even-if-you-admire-them/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d61/joan-didion-497_admiration_if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody_2985641.jpg) > [Before I started working on a computer, writing a piece would be like making something up every day, taking the material and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/before-i-started-working-on-a-computer-writing-a-piece-would-be-like/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/476/joan-didion-497_block_before-i-started-working-on-a-computer-w_1882957.jpg) ## Other authors on Pieces ## More by Joan Didion > [To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-shift-the-structure-of-a-sentence-alters-the-meaning-of-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Style is character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/style-is-character/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/california-is-a-place-in-which-a-boom-mentality-and-a-sense-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I went because I was interested in the alchemy of issues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-went-because-i-was-interested-in-the-alchemy-of-issues/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/why-did-i-write-it-down-in-order-to-remember-of-course-but-exactly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-no-longer-want-reminders-of-what-was-what-got-broken-what-got-lost/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/my-mother-gave-teas-the-way-other-mothers-breathed-her-own-mother/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not very interested in people. I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-m-not-very-interested-in-people-i-recognize-it-in-myself-there-is-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/was-there-ever-in-anyone-s-life-span-a-point-free-in-time-devoid-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/research-to-date-has-shown-that-like-many-other-stressors-grief/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/by-the-end-of-the-week-she-was-thinking-constantly-about-where-her/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-can-t-see-the-upside-in-this-i-heard-myself-say-by-way-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [ I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. \[...\] I think biographies are very urgent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-through-whole-categories-i-was/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pieces/joan-didion/#itemlist", "name": "10 Pieces Quotes By Joan Didion", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Once in a while, when I first started to write pieces, I would try to write to a reader other than myself. I always failed. I would freeze up.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/once-in-a-while-when-i-first-started-to-write-pieces-i-would-try-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/joan-didion-497_always_once-in-a-while-when-i-first-started-to_2967804.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/joan-didion-497_always_once-in-a-while-when-i-first-started-to_2967804.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/joan-didion-497_always_once-in-a-while-when-i-first-started-to_2967804.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Once in a while, when I first started to write pieces, I would try to write to a reader other than myself. I…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The last sentence in a piece is another adventure. It should open the piece up.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/the-last-sentence-in-a-piece-is-another-adventure-it-should-open-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c58/joan-didion-497_adventure_the-last-sentence-in-a-piece-is-another_734133.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c58/joan-didion-497_adventure_the-last-sentence-in-a-piece-is-another_734133.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c58/joan-didion-497_adventure_the-last-sentence-in-a-piece-is-another_734133.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The last sentence in a piece is another adventure. It should open the piece up.” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When you're writing fiction, you don't have notes necessarily. You don't carve it, it's not like a piece of sculpture, it's more like water color.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/when-you-re-writing-fiction-you-don-t-have-notes-necessarily-you-don/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b26/joan-didion-497_color_when-you-re-writing-fiction-you-don-t-ha_725573.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b26/joan-didion-497_color_when-you-re-writing-fiction-you-don-t-ha_725573.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b26/joan-didion-497_color_when-you-re-writing-fiction-you-don-t-ha_725573.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When you're writing fiction, you don't have notes necessarily. You don't carve it, it's not like a piece of…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is always a point in the writing of a piece when I sit in a room literally papered with false starts and cannot put one word after another and imagine that I have suffered a small stroke, leaving me apparently undamaged but actually aphasic.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/there-is-always-a-point-in-the-writing-of-a-piece-when-i-sit-in-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d62/joan-didion-497_imagine_there-is-always-a-point-in-the-writing-o_1053197.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d62/joan-didion-497_imagine_there-is-always-a-point-in-the-writing-o_1053197.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d62/joan-didion-497_imagine_there-is-always-a-point-in-the-writing-o_1053197.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is always a point in the writing of a piece when I sit in a room literally papered with false starts…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I just read everything I could get my hands on. I taught myself to read or my mother taught me. Who knows how I learned to read? It was before I went to school, so I would go to the library and just take things off the shelf. My mother had to sign a piece of paper saying I could take adult books.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-read-everything-i-could-get-my-hands-on-i-taught-myself-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/36e/joan-didion-497_adults_i-just-read-everything-i-could-get-my-ha_1731825.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/36e/joan-didion-497_adults_i-just-read-everything-i-could-get-my-ha_1731825.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/36e/joan-didion-497_adults_i-just-read-everything-i-could-get-my-ha_1731825.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I just read everything I could get my hands on. I taught myself to read or my mother taught me. Who knows…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Nonfiction is more personal for me. It's more personal in that it's more direct, and actually it's always been more direct, even when I first started doing pieces.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/nonfiction-is-more-personal-for-me-it-s-more-personal-in-that-it-s/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a0/joan-didion-497_always_nonfiction-is-more-personal-for-me-it-s_1754856.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a0/joan-didion-497_always_nonfiction-is-more-personal-for-me-it-s_1754856.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a0/joan-didion-497_always_nonfiction-is-more-personal-for-me-it-s_1754856.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Nonfiction is more personal for me. It's more personal in that it's more direct, and actually it's always…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Novels are almost like music or poetry - they just come to me in simple sentences, whereas I think my pieces get more and more complex ever since I've started using a computer.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/novels-are-almost-like-music-or-poetry-they-just-come-to-me-in-simple/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2d/joan-didion-497_books_novels-are-almost-like-music-or-poetry-t_2638302.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2d/joan-didion-497_books_novels-are-almost-like-music-or-poetry-t_2638302.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2d/joan-didion-497_books_novels-are-almost-like-music-or-poetry-t_2638302.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Novels are almost like music or poetry - they just come to me in simple sentences, whereas I think my pieces…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Before I'd written movies, I never could do big set-piece scenes with a lot of different speakers - when you've got twelve people around a dinner table talking at cross purposes. I had always been impressed by other people's ability to do that.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/before-i-d-written-movies-i-never-could-do-big-set-piece-scenes-with/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed2/joan-didion-497_ability_before-i-d-written-movies-i-never-could_1379859.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed2/joan-didion-497_ability_before-i-d-written-movies-i-never-could_1379859.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed2/joan-didion-497_ability_before-i-d-written-movies-i-never-could_1379859.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Before I'd written movies, I never could do big set-piece scenes with a lot of different speakers - when…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If you are doing a piece about somebody, even if you admire them tremendously and express that in the piece, express that admiration, if they're not used to being written about, if they're civilians, [...] they're not used to seeing themselves through other people's eyes. So you will always see them from a slightly different angle than they see themselves, and they feel a little betrayed by that.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody-even-if-you-admire-them/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d61/joan-didion-497_admiration_if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody_2985641.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d61/joan-didion-497_admiration_if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody_2985641.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d61/joan-didion-497_admiration_if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody_2985641.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If you are doing a piece about somebody, even if you admire them tremendously and express that in the piece…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Before I started working on a computer, writing a piece would be like making something up every day, taking the material and never quite knowing where you were going to go next with the material. With a computer it was less like painting and more like sculpture, where you start with a block of something and then start shaping it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/before-i-started-working-on-a-computer-writing-a-piece-would-be-like/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/476/joan-didion-497_block_before-i-started-working-on-a-computer-w_1882957.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/476/joan-didion-497_block_before-i-started-working-on-a-computer-w_1882957.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/476/joan-didion-497_block_before-i-started-working-on-a-computer-w_1882957.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Before I started working on a computer, writing a piece would be like making something up every day, taking…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pieces/joan-didion/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pieces/joan-didion/", "name": "Pieces Quotes by Joan Didion", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pieces/joan-didion/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/joan-didion-497_always_once-in-a-while-when-i-first-started-to_2967804.jpg" }, "description": "10 Pieces quotes by Joan Didion. Plus more from Joan Didion and more Pieces sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pieces/joan-didion/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pieces/joan-didion/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Pieces", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pieces/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Joan Didion", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pieces/joan-didion/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```