Writing is a channeling of an individual experience; so is reading. That's what's so exciting about this art form - it's interactive. — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
All writers are egomaniacal, manic-depressive, drug-addicted alcoholics. You want to have that fix again. — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
“But then all writers smoke, don't they? And drink? And sit in front of computer screens till their arteries clog and muscles… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
But then, that's the beauty of writing stories-each one is an exploratory journey in search of a reason and a shape. And… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
The professorial dictum has always been to write what you know, but I say write what you don't know and find something… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
Alcohol had a lot to do with it, too, and mental instability. All writers are narcissistic, manic-depressive drug addicts and alcoholics, and… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
One of the problems I have with many writers is their stories are all somewhat similar. They might be very good, but… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I have very rarely written autobiographical stuff. "Greasy Lake" and some other works have some autobiographical elements, as does "Birnam Wood," the… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I don't know who they are[my characters] . They're entirely invented characters. Maybe that's how I've been able to write so many… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
“But then, that’s the beauty of writing stories—each one is an exploratory journey in search of a reason and a shape. And… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I've had many students over the years, sometimes even very sophisticated students, who will be writing and will hit a wall. Often… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I can't be reading novels when I'm writing a novel, because somebody's voice creeps in. The hardest thing to do is keep… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I'm pretty hardcore. I stick exactly to what I'm doing. So I write a novel in one period, and then I'll write… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
Work ethic and this determination is all part of escaping the depressive side. Of course I'm manic depressive, maybe not to the… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I'm just having fun making jokes and writing books. But you see me once a year, I come on when I have… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
“Writing is a habit, an addiction, as powerful and overmastering an urge as putting a bottle to your lips or a spike… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
“I do feel that literature should be demystified. What I object to is what is happening in our era: literature is only… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I love satire. Evelyn Waugh is one of my favorite writers of all time. He's hilarious. He's so wicked. He's so great.… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I don't think we need a critic to negotiate with the audience. People say, "Who are you writing for?" I'm writing for… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I like to joke that you usually write more books before death than after death, so that's why I'm doing it. But… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I was joking earlier when I said that all writers are manic depressives, but it's a joke with a lot of truth… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
What I'm doing is exploring things. This is why I'm a fiction writer rather than an essayist or a politician or whatever.… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I'm a product of state schools. I had a working-class family. We had no books. I was the first to go to… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
You don't write the kitchen scene just because you're eager to do it that day and you're avoiding something else. I think… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
Music is, by far, the best art. Nothing even comes close. It's so immediate and emotional. In writing, maybe ninety percent of… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
Some writers just write about their own lives. Well, I don't want to do that. I want to have a really boring… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
When you're in the midst of writing, it's a beautiful thing happening through you. Many people have said that it's not you,… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I always dread the process of writing because I'm not a writer. I'm an audible guy, I'm a verbal guy. I love… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
“I've always been a quitter. I quit the Boy Scouts, the glee club, the marching band. Gave up my paper route, turned… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
Everything we do is escapism, because we'll all be dead and everything we do is completely meaningless. Why brush your teeth? Why not be… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
The hardest thing in a novel is time. You've got [a line like] "two weeks later, he woke up with a headache," and you've… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
Writing is a channeling of an individual experience; so is reading. That's what's so exciting about this art form - it's interactive. — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
I'm pretty hardcore. I stick exactly to what I'm doing. So I write a novel in one period, and then I'll write stories in… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
Work saved me. Literature saved me. It sounds corny but it's absolutely true. I was going in the wrong direction, but after the 9,000th… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
There are always surprises. Life may be inveterately grim and the surprises disproportionately unpleasant, but it would be hardly worth living if there were… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
“Besides, to like something, to really like it and come out and say so, is taking a terrible risk. I mean, what if I'm… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
“I am concerned with social and environmental issues. What rational person is not? But advocacy and art do not mix. Art is a seduction.… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
Pleasure, I remind myself, is inseparable from its lawfully wedded mate, pain. — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
A glad zest and hopefulness might be inspired even in the most jaded and ennui-cursed, were there in our homes such simple, truthful natures… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
What I'm doing is exploring things. This is why I'm a fiction writer rather than an essayist or a politician or whatever. I just… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
“Who was she in high school? Little Miss Nobody. She could have embroidered it on her sweaters, tattooed it across her forehead. And in… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
![“I have very rarely written autobiographical stuff. "Greasy Lake" and some other works have some autobiographical elements, as does "Birnam Wood," the one I chose to end [this collection] with. I lived in that house and some of my feelings are expressed in it, but it's not autobiography. It was not…” quote by T.C. Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/4e2/t-c-boyle-8108_autobiography_i-have-very-rarely-written-autobiographi_1692611.jpg)
![“I don't know who they are[my characters] . They're entirely invented characters. Maybe that's how I've been able to write so many books, because there are no boundaries for me. I can write a completely fantastical story like "Swept Away" or "Blinded by the Light" and then a non-comic drama like…” quote by T.C. Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ead/t-c-boyle-8108_able_i-don-t-know-who-they-are-my-characters_1148719.jpg)
![“But then, that’s the beauty of writing stories—each one is an exploratory journey in search of a reason and a shape. And when you find that reason and that shape, there’s no feeling like it." [ Peter Wild Interviews TC Boyle , 3:AM Magazine, June 2003]” quote by T.C. Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/68b/t-c-boyle-8108_art_but-then-that-s-the-beauty-of-writing-st_1261960.jpg)
![“When you're in the midst of writing, it's a beautiful thing happening through you. Many people have said that it's not you, it's the soul of humankind and so on, I don't know. But it has the same effect [as music]. It takes you out of your body and out of this planet.” quote by T.C. Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bf4/t-c-boyle-8108_beautiful_when-you-re-in-the-midst-of-writing-it-s_2970972.jpg)
![“The hardest thing in a novel is time. You've got [a line like] "two weeks later, he woke up with a headache," and you've got to add up that entire two weeks and what the date is and whether it works. That kind of stuff drives me crazy and if I don't have it exactly right, I can't move forward…” quote by T.C. Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e6e/t-c-boyle-8108_add_the-hardest-thing-in-a-novel-is-time-you_81637.jpg)
