Why does the writer write? The writer writes to serve--hopeless ly he writes in the hope that he might serve--not himself and… — Joy Williams Cold Copy Share Image
Many writers today are wanderers. There is not only an unhousedness in language - how to convey, to say nothing of converge… — Joy Williams Language Copy Share Image
You don't believe in Nature anymore. It's too isolated from you. You've abstracted it. It's so messy and damaged and sad. Your… — Joy Williams Animal Copy Share Image
There is a certain type of conversation one hears only when one is drunk and it is like a dream, full of… — Joy Williams Copy Share Image
Good writing never soothes or comforts. It is no prescription, neither is it diversionary, although it can and should enchant while it… — Joy Williams Books Copy Share Image
“She had a dream about a tattoo. This was a pleasant dream. She was walking away and she had the most beautiful… — Joy Williams Dreams Copy Share Image
“Alice heard a woman say, 'Before I start writing I feel affectionate, interested, and frustrated. In that order. Afterwards I feel relieved,… — Joy Williams Copy Share Image
The writer doesn’t write for the reader. He doesn’t write for himself, either. He writes to serve…something. Somethingness. The somethingness that is… — Joy Williams Books Copy Share Image
Did the walls of the barn start to tremble With a glory they could not contain? Did anyone wake with the feeling… — Joy Williams Copy Share Image
I think I had the same notion most people have, which is it’s simply a town that percolates around country music. Though… — Joy Williams Copy Share Image
What a story is, is devious. It pretends transparency, forthrightness. It engages with ordinary people, ordinary matters, recognizable stuff. But this is… — Joy Williams Catastrophe Copy Share Image
“Regarding life, it is much the best to think that the experiences we have are necessary for us. It is by means… — Joy Williams Emotional pain Copy Share Image
Writers end up writing stories-or rather, stories' shadows-and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can… — Joy Williams Copy Share Image
A writer starts out, I think, wanting to be a transfiguring agent, and ends up usually just making contact, contact with other… — Joy Williams Copy Share Image
A side benefit of the new and developing technologies is that soon we won't have to feel guilty about the suffering and… — Joy Williams Animal Copy Share Image
