Donald Ray Pollock

“Strangers complained about the stench, but the locals liked to brag that it was the sweet smell of money.”

— Donald Ray Pollock

I don't really think the outburst is recent; there have always been writers in Appalachia.

— Donald Ray Pollock

Unless he had whiskey running through his veins, Willard came to the clearing every morning and evening to talk to God. Arvin…

— Donald Ray Pollock

For example, if it's a sad scene, I need to feel that way, at least to a slight degree and for a…

— Donald Ray Pollock

As for how I feel about any success I've had, I just feel extremely lucky. Writing is a tough racket, and there…

— Donald Ray Pollock

Part of the reason might be that I was born in 1954 and I look upon my youth with great fondness, like…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I've never heard of that anthology [Vance Randolph, Pissing in the Snow], but you can be sure I'll buy it now.

— Donald Ray Pollock

When I first started out, I was trying to write stories about nurses and lawyers and a lot of people I didn't…

— Donald Ray Pollock

“It's hard to live a good life...It seems like the Devil don't ever let up.”

— Donald Ray Pollock

I'm not sure what the proper label might be, or the most accurate one, but someone once called my stuff Southern Ohio…

— Donald Ray Pollock

Don't get me wrong: I think that everyone should put forth an effort to do better, but let's face it, some of…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I look upon [writing about religion] as a nice way to get by in this precarious world, though I've never been able…

— Donald Ray Pollock

[Degree in English] gave me a little more self-confidence, to know that I'd managed to complete something like that.

— Donald Ray Pollock

When I was growing up, I always wanted to be somebody else and live somewhere else. I've always felt a little uncomfortable…

— Donald Ray Pollock

There are a lot of writers from the South who would probably have once figured they needed to go to New York…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I think the biggest influence on the book, as far as the humor goes, comes, at least indirectly, from the men I…

— Donald Ray Pollock

“The glass door swung open and two big, homely women walked in looking guilty. They were the kind of women who, out…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I didn't feel that so much as an outsider when I started writing; I've felt that way all my life. I don't…

— Donald Ray Pollock

It's very easy for me to feel sympathy for people who are messed up. It's not that I'm a pseudo-saint or a…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I don't think I'd call [mood] a major force, but it is important as far as hitting the right notes or nuances…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I would like to write a book that wasn't so violent and weird, but I just don't think I can do that…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I think my characters - well, at least a few of them - are hoping or searching for some kind of contact…

— Donald Ray Pollock

Religion can be a good thing, but basically the way I look at it is that it provides a moral code, common…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I would try to write my own story about some East Coast suburbanite having an affair or something like that. So I…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I was 35 when I started taking classes at Ohio University. After I got my degree, I kept working at the mill.…

— Donald Ray Pollock