Writing Quotes by Junot Diaz

“Read more than you write, live more than you read”

— Junot Díaz

I'm not writing fairy tales or object lessons.

— Junot Diaz

It took me sixteen years to write.

— Junot Diaz

'Oscar Wao' for example cohered in a period of terrible distress. All the novels that I wanted to write were not happening.

— Junot Diaz

I never hear white writers get asked, 'Do you worry about how you represent white people?'

— Junot Diaz

I think one of the paradoxes of writing fiction is when people enjoy it, they want it to be real. So they…

— Junot Diaz

Even I thought I would be a writer who put something out every year. But that's not how it worked out.

— Junot Diaz

The art is just really mysterious. If I understood it more, maybe I would write more.

— Junot Diaz

I write very, very slowly, and for me, I have to summon all sorts of resources to make one of these pieces…

— Junot Diaz

I think that if you're writing about the human condition, my God, you've got to start at base: point zero, point one,…

— Junot Diaz

The only difference between a published and unpublished writer is a tolerance for imperfection.

— Junot Diaz

An ear will never do you wrong, but I know writers who... most of the language they use is just extracted language…

— Junot Diaz

Let me tell you, if I could write one-tenth as fast as some of my friends, I'd be made. I'd be it.…

— Junot Diaz

In my view, a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any…

— Junot Diaz

I really am a believer that 99.99% of all the stories we need, not only as artists but as human beings, not…

— Junot Diaz

We get so many people saying short fiction is not economical, that it doesn't sell; but there are so many of us…

— Junot Diaz

“We’re committed to the idea that a book has to live in the present . . . but the reality, that’s hard for us to recognise,…

— Junot Díaz

Because I can't seem to escape it. It's a way for me to address and counter my questions about what it means…

— Junot Diaz

The one thing about being a dude and writing from a female perspective is that the baseline is, you suck. The baseline…

— Junot Diaz

In '94, I started writing a novel about an enormous terrorist act that destroyed the United States. The novel takes place twenty…

— Junot Diaz

I think there's something really painful about your identity being entirely composed of ghosts. For me, I didn't want to be this…

— Junot Diaz

You see, in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent,…

— Junot Diaz

It wasn't that I couldn't write. I wrote every day. I actually worked really hard at writing. At my desk by 7…

— Junot Diaz

But it's clear to me that us slow-poke writers are a dying breed. It's amazing how thoroughly my young writing students have…

— Junot Diaz

“The next day you look at the new pages. For once you don't want to burn them or give up writing forever.…

— Junot Díaz

There are a couple of strategies for writing about an absence or writing about a loss. One can create the person that…

— Junot Diaz

When I was thinking about these women characters, no matter how bad a person I am - a bad writer, my limitations,…

— Junot Diaz

“After his initial homecoming week, after he'd been taken to a bunch of sights by his cousins, after he'd gotten somewhat used…

— Junot Díaz

“You guys know about vampires? … You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? There’s this idea that monsters don’t have…

— Junot Díaz

“He whistles. Que viva Colombia. Hands you back the Book. You really should write the cheater's guide to love. You think? I…

— Junot Díaz

If you really want a prize, or if you really want applause, you should try to write as many books as humanly…

— Junot Diaz

I always individuate myself from other writers who say they would die if they couldn't write. For me, I'd die if I…

— Junot Diaz

In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to become the person you need to…

— Junot Diaz

I'm having so much trouble with writing. Maybe if I help other people, it'll be easier for me.

— Junot Diaz

I didn't start writing until late high school and then I was just diddling. Mainly I loved to read and my writing…

— Junot Diaz

Stereotypes, they're sensual, cultural weapons. That's the way that we attack people. At an artistic level, stereotypes are terrible writing.

— Junot Diaz

I think that most of my writer friends are really compulsive. I think that's great. It's wonderful for them. It's just not…

— Junot Diaz

I'm still trying to figure out how to write about cancer and my family's experience with it. If I had been able…

— Junot Diaz

“From what I saw the plurality of students and faculty had been educated exclusively in the tradition of writers like William Gaddis...”

— Junot Díaz

As for my slowness as a writer - that's been a struggle, no question. We live in a culture that values and…

— Junot Diaz