--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I always knew from the beginning that…" description: "\"I always knew from the beginning that this was the only way to write Then We Came To The End - that it had to be in first - person plural if it was goi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c87/joshua-ferris-4070_abandon_i-always-knew-from-the-beginning-that-th_2305670.jpg" --- # I always knew from the beginning that this was the only… ![“I always knew from the beginning that this was the only way to write Then We Came To The End - that it had to be in first - person plural if it was going to illustrate how the individual becomes part of the collective. I had no interest in writing the book in a more conventional voice. It goes…” quote by Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c87/joshua-ferris-4070_abandon_i-always-knew-from-the-beginning-that-th_2305670.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c87/joshua-ferris-4070_abandon_i-always-knew-from-the-beginning-that-th_2305670.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c87/joshua-ferris-4070_abandon_i-always-knew-from-the-beginning-that-th_2305670.jpg) > “I always knew from the beginning that this was the only way to write Then We Came To The End - that it had to be in first - person plural if it was going to illustrate how the individual becomes part of the collective. I had no interest in writing the book in a more conventional voice. It goes back to that fascination I had with telling a story in multiple ways. It was the only choice I gave myself, really - I said "This is it, pal. If you can't tell a story this way, you're going to have to abandon the book. Write it this way or give up."” [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author insists on a collective first‑person plural narrative to merge individual identity into a group, rejecting conventional voice. **In simple terms:** He chose a plural voice to show individuals becoming a collective. Key Takeaway Embrace narrative forms that reflect your thematic goals. Themes narrative style collective identity authorial intent creative control Mood reflective determined creative Type literary creative When to use this quote - writing workshops - literary analysis - creative writing classes - author interviews Key Concepts first‑person plural collective storytelling voice choice Questions to Reflect On - How does collective narration affect reader empathy? - When is a conventional voice more effective? A Different Perspective A plural voice may alienate readers preferring personal perspective. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abandon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abandon/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices/) [Collective Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collective-writing-5460482/) [First person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-person/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Giving up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving-up/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Multiple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/multiple/) [Telling A Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-a-story/) [Telling Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-story-250963/) [Way Write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way-write-280486/) [Write Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write-way-368175/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [From a craft standpoint, telling a story in the first-person present tense over the course of 500 pages is a daunting challenge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-boyden/from-a-craft-standpoint-telling-a-story-in-the-first-person-present/) [Joseph Boyden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-boyden/) > [I write the way I write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kirkman/i-write-the-way-i-write/) [Robert Kirkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kirkman/) > [There's always going to be controversy when you write the way I write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-mezrich/there-s-always-going-to-be-controversy-when-you-write-the-way-i-write/) [Ben Mezrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-mezrich/) > [I never thought I would write the way that I write for the studios now, which is like, not little novels, but be someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lennon/i-never-thought-i-would-write-the-way-that-i-write-for-the-studios/) [Thomas Lennon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lennon/) > [I always write the same way. I always write with a yellow pad and a ballpoint pen on my bed. And then I go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/i-always-write-the-same-way-i-always-write-with-a-yellow-pad-and-a/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [“The only way out is to write your way out.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-oetjens/the-only-way-out-is-to-write-your-way-out/) [Mark Oetjens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-oetjens/) > [You're going to write straight and simple and good now. That's the start.''What if I'm not straight and simple and good? Do you think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/you-re-going-to-write-straight-and-simple-and-good-now-that-s-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [I write what I write in the way that I write it. I'm not being abstract, you know. I'm talking about something that, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/i-write-what-i-write-in-the-way-that-i-write-it-i-m-not-being/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [Everybody's got a different way of telling a story - and has different stories to tell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-richards/everybody-s-got-a-different-way-of-telling-a-story-and-has-different/) [Keith Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-richards/) > [I really like telling stories. When I was a kid, I wanted to write songs. In quite a fundamental, gratifying, childish way, I enjoy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-bettany/i-really-like-telling-stories-when-i-was-a-kid-i-wanted-to-write/) [Paul Bettany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-bettany/) > [This is what I thought: for the most banal even to become an adventure, you must (and this is enough) begin to recount it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/this-is-what-i-thought-for-the-most-banal-even-to-become-an-adventure/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [When you play a violin piece, you are a storyteller, and you're telling a story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-bell/when-you-play-a-violin-piece-you-are-a-storyteller-and-you-re-telling/) [Joshua Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-bell/) > [Consciousness begins when brains acquire the power, the simple power I must add, of telling a story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-damasio/consciousness-begins-when-brains-acquire-the-power-the-simple-power-i/) [Antonio Damasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-damasio/) > [Telling a story of illness, one pulls a thread through a narrow opening flanked on one side by shame and the other by trivia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-griffin/telling-a-story-of-illness-one-pulls-a-thread-through-a-narrow/) [Susan Griffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-griffin/) > [Story is about pulling the reader in and a plot is a more externalized mechanism of revelation. A plot is more antic, more performative,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/story-is-about-pulling-the-reader-in-and-a-plot-is-a-more/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) ## More by Joshua Ferris > [“Using a wide variety of media, we could demonstrate for our fellow Americans their anxieties, desires, insufficiencies, and frustrations--and how to assuage them all.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/using-a-wide-variety-of-media-we-could-demonstrate-for-our-fellow/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [If someone were plucked from the group and given those responsibilities, they might find themselves growing more aloof, just by virtue of that promotion.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/if-someone-were-plucked-from-the-group-and-given-those/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [“I was already at one remove before the Internet came along. I need another remove? Now I have to spend the time that I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/i-was-already-at-one-remove-before-the-internet-came-along-i-need/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [“One thing we knew for certain- despite all our certainties, it was very difficult to guess what one individual was thinking at any given…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/one-thing-we-knew-for-certain-despite-all-our-certainties-it-was-very/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [To conform is to lose your soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/to-conform-is-to-lose-your-soul/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [“There was so much unpleasantness in the workaday world. The last thing you ever wanted to do at night was go home and do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/there-was-so-much-unpleasantness-in-the-workaday-world-the-last-thing/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [We loved killing time and had perfected several ways of doing so. We wandered the hallways carrying papers that indicated some mission of business…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/we-loved-killing-time-and-had-perfected-several-ways-of-doing-so-we/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [“For a long time thereafter I stared almost steadily at the bright and ostentatious VERIZON sign on top of one of the tallest buildings—the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/for-a-long-time-thereafter-i-stared-almost-steadily-at-the-bright-and/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [“Of course I alienate myself from society. It's the only way I know of not being constantly reminded of all the ways I'm alienated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/of-course-i-alienate-myself-from-society-it-s-the-only-way-i-know-of/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [“That was the last time she was allowed back at the Bennigan's. From then on, she started drinking at the T.G.I. Friday's.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/that-was-the-last-time-she-was-allowed-back-at-the-bennigan-s-from/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [I've always thought things were absurd. It would take a lot more effort for me to see things as reasonable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/i-ve-always-thought-things-were-absurd-it-would-take-a-lot-more/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [“...she had the conviction of the newly converted, which wouldn't last forever, but would for the moment brook no discouragement or allow for second-guessing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/she-had-the-conviction-of-the-newly-converted-which-wouldn-t-last/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [“I swore never to use the emoticon ever… until one day, offhandedly and without much thought, I used my first :) and, shortly thereafter,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/i-swore-never-to-use-the-emoticon-ever-until-one-day-offhandedly-and/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [I think one of the ways you avoid being angry is to avoid being angry at the people in power. They might do crappy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/i-think-one-of-the-ways-you-avoid-being-angry-is-to-avoid-being-angry/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [“Without monstrous distortions, I was slowly learning, without lies and hypocrisy, one cannot have the idealized American life I so longed for.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/without-monstrous-distortions-i-was-slowly-learning-without-lies-and/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) [Explore all 114 Joshua Ferris quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) ## More Abandon quotes > [Humans are, as Sartre put it, 'condemned to be free'. To insist that science, or God, objectively defines moral values is to abandon our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenan-malik/humans-are-as-sartre-put-it-condemned-to-be-free-to-insist-that/) [Kenan Malik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenan-malik/) > [The purpose of a spirit filled life is to demonstrate the supernatural power of our living God so that the unsaved multitudes will abandon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-l-osborn/the-purpose-of-a-spirit-filled-life-is-to-demonstrate-the/) [T.L. Osborn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-l-osborn/) > [However, however, if the goal is to abandon America's free enterprise economy, if the goal is to convert America into a submissive member of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-rubio/however-however-if-the-goal-is-to-abandon-america-s-free-enterprise/) [Marco Rubio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-rubio/) > [I would leave at once, but it would be cruel to abandon a lady in a foreign land with a maniac.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/i-would-leave-at-once-but-it-would-be-cruel-to-abandon-a-lady-in-a/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [When we fall utterly, something gathers us up. But our falling must be without reservation, without expectation, without hope, though not hopeless. You cant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-housden/when-we-fall-utterly-something-gathers-us-up-but-our-falling-must-be/) [Roger Housden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-housden/) > [every subjective phenomenon is essentially connected with a single point of view, and it seems inevitable that an objective, physical theory will abandon that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/every-subjective-phenomenon-is-essentially-connected-with-a-single/) [Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/) > [Can you dissolve your ego? Can you abandon the idea of self and other? Can you relinquish the notions of male and female, short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/can-you-dissolve-your-ego-can-you-abandon-the-idea-of-self-and-other/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [Every great thing starts with an idea, followed by a doubt and finally a resolve to abandon or pursue. Victory is a treacherous journey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dane-cook/every-great-thing-starts-with-an-idea-followed-by-a-doubt-and-finally/) [Dane Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dane-cook/) > [Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/those-who-have-been-once-intoxicated-with-power-and-have-derived-any/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Do not lose hope; St. Joseph also experienced moments of difficulty, but he never lost faith and was able to overcome them, in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/do-not-lose-hope-st-joseph-also-experienced-moments-of-difficulty-but/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [It is a dangerous and fateful presumption, besides the absurd temerity that it implies, to disdain what we do not comprehend. For after you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-a-dangerous-and-fateful-presumption-besides-the-absurd-temerity/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Don't give up because things are hard, but work harder, when you think of giving up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-liccione/don-t-give-up-because-things-are-hard-but-work-harder-when-you-think/) [Anthony Liccione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-liccione/) > [Sex is not the ultimate high, but the ultimate high hangs out around sex. The ultimate high is the dance with another person, played…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/sex-is-not-the-ultimate-high-but-the-ultimate-high-hangs-out-around/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [I care so deeply about this matter that I'm willing to take on the legal penalties, to sit in this prison cell, to sacrifice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-care-so-deeply-about-this-matter-that-i-m-willing-to-take-on-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I've been to unpretty places with the roles I've played, and I'm attracted to reckless abandon. I like being taken to the edge of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhys-ifans/i-ve-been-to-unpretty-places-with-the-roles-i-ve-played-and-i-m/) [Rhys Ifans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhys-ifans/) [Browse all 1,142 Abandon quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abandon/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I always knew from the beginning that this was the only way to write Then We Came To The End - that it had to be in first - person plural if it was going to illustrate how the individual becomes part of the collective. I had no interest in writing the book in a more conventional voice. It goes back to that fascination I had with telling a story in multiple ways. It was the only choice I gave myself, really - I said \"This is it, pal. If you can't tell a story this way, you're going to have to abandon the book. 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