The desire to write a novel is the single required prerequisite for writing a novel. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Even if my marriage is falling apart and my children are unhappy, there is still a part of me that says, 'God,… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Well, in fact everybody - everybody - in the entire nation has enough stuff in their life to write about that's interesting… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
If novels and stories are bulletins from the progressive states of ignorance a writer passes through over the years, observations and opinions… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“She did not think it any coincidence that ideas denigrating literary authorship had taken center stage simultaneously with the emergence of formerly… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
The main thing about the novel that is totally fascinating: It's not possessed by the writer; it's possessed by the reader. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“If living is to progress, if you are lucky, from foolishness to wisdom, then to write novels is to broadcast the various… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are.… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
I love to write about sex. You just have to make it idiosyncratic. You have to have a strong comprehension of your… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
A novelist has two lives-- a reading and writing life, and a lived life. he or she cannot be understood at all… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Write every day, just to keep in the habit, and remember that whatever you have written is neither as good nor as… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
I was asked by an editor to consider writing something about an American inventor. I asked him if he knew who invented… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
I wrote the Dickens book because I loved Dickens, not because I felt a kinship with him, but after writing the book… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Some novelists are luckier than others in the eras of their formative intellectual years, but all Weltanschauungs return, which means that most novelists have… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
There can never be such a thing as a free market, because it is human nature to cheat, monopolize, and buy off others so… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
The only siblings I have are half-siblings. My nuclear family would have been an extra-suffocating threesome. Instead, I have an interesting brother and sister,… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
How will you know a good farmer when you meet him? He will not ask you for any favors. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
You know what getting married is? It's agreeing to taking this person who right now is at the top of his form, full of… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“We watched the swimmers and sunbathers and I thought about this. Had I faced all the facts? It seemed like I had, but actually,… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“They throw themselves on the waters of the world, and they know they will be borne up.” — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
everything is toxic. That's the point. You can't avoid toxins. Thinking you can is just another symptom of the toxic overload stage. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“Shame is a distinct feeling. I couldn’t look at my hands around the coffee cup or hear my own laments without feeling appalled, wanting… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“She could not have created this moment, these lovely faces, these candles flickering, the flash of the silverware, the fragrances of the food hanging… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Horse racing is really much more intimidating than anything having to do with literature. When I had horses at the racetrack, I would wake… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
