If we're lucky, writer and reader alike, we'll finish the last line or two of a short story and then just sit… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
My circumstances of unrelieved responsibility and permanent distraction necessitated the short story form. — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
It's possible, in a poem or short story, to write about commonplace things and objects using commonplace but precise language, and to… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
Most of my stories, if not all of them, have some basis in real life. That's the kind of fiction I'm most… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
I think a little menace is fine to have in a story. For one thing, it's good for the circulation. — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
When a reader finishes a wonderful story and lays it aside, he should have to pause for a minute and collect himself. — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
I've done as many as 20 or 30 drafts of a story. Never less than 10 or 12 drafts. — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
“Fear of seeing a police car pull into the drive. Fear of falling asleep at night. Fear of not falling asleep. Fear of the… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
My heart is broken,” she goes. “It’s turned to a piece of stone. I’m no good. That’s what’s as bad as anything, that I’m… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
“You sound like a nice man,” the woman said. “Do I? Well, that’s nice of you to say.” He knew he should hang up… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
Life and death matters, yes. And the question of how to behave in this world, how to go in the face of everything. Time… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
The places where water comes together with other water. Those places stand out in my mind like holy places. — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
A man can go along obeying all the rules and then it don't matter a damn anymore. — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
“You see, this happened a few months ago, but it's still going on right now, and it ought to make us feel ashamed when… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
I've crossed some kind of invisible line. I feel as if I've come to a place I never thought I'd have to come to.… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
Art doesn't have to do anything. It just has to be there for the fierce pleasure we take in doing it. — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
“But here is the thing. When he gets on me, I suddenly feel I am fat. I feel am terrifically fat, so fat that… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
There are significant moments in everyone's day that can make literature. That's what you ought to write about. — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
The fiction Im most interested in has lines of reference to the real world. — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
