Can do Quote by T.C. Boyle
“I've had many students over the years, sometimes even very sophisticated students, who will be writing and will hit a wall. Often I find it's because they're working out of sequence. Maybe some people can do that, but I don't think that's how fiction works. It's a discovery.”
About This Quote
Source Interview: The Paris Review, 2015
Students often stall in writing because they tackle parts out of narrative order, hindering discovery.
In simple terms: Writing out of order blocks progress.
Key Takeaway
Follow story sequence for flow.
Themes
writing
creativity
process
education
Mood
reflective
instructive
Type
advice
pedagogical
When to use this quote
- creative writing classes
- novel drafting
- screenwriting workshops
Key Concepts
narrative structure
learning obstacles
Questions to Reflect On
- Do you ever write scenes out of order?
- How can you re‑order work without losing momentum?
A Different Perspective
Some writers thrive on non-linear methods; flexibility can aid discovery.
![“Something I always tell students is, when you're writing something, you want to write the first draft and you want it to come out easily in the beginning. If you're afraid to say what you really have to say, you stammer. [...] You're judging yourself, you know, thinking about your listener. You're…” quote by Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b17/sandra-cisneros-862_firsts_something-i-always-tell-students-is-when_967831.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)
