Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
You can't rush inspiration.
I was sort of a miserable teenager.
Generally, I walk around in a glum mood.
A society manufactures the heroes it requires.
I'm always trying to switch voices and genres.
In college, I wrote maybe three short stories.
What isn't said is as important as what is said.
A monster is a person who has stopped pretending.
'Driving while black' was taught to me at a young age.
I have a good poker face because I am half-dead inside.
A lot of my books have started with an abstract premise.
I'm of that subset of native New Yorkers who can't drive.
I try to have each book be an antidote to the one before.
Talking about New York is a way of talking about the world.
Some books are well-received with critics; other books sell.
I'm not a representative of blackness, and I'm not a healer.
I like questions that tee me up to make weird jokes, frankly.
I admire Vegas's purity, its entirely wholesome artificiality.
I've always thought the Nat Turner story to be very interesting.
In other words, fiction is payback for those who have wronged you.
There's always an attack on the sophomore novel from some quarters.
We never see other people anyway, only the monsters we make of them.
I envied kids who played soccer and football, but that was not my gig.
Each book requires a different kind of treatment and structural gambit.
I was inspired to become a writer by horror movies and science fiction.
The movie 'Rock 'n' Roll High School' was a sacred text in my household.
Monsters are a storytelling tool, like domestic realism and close third.
I'm someone who just likes being in my cave and thinking up weird stuff.
I am not sure the issue of race in America will ever be completely solved.
Part of being in New York is being able to brag about what used to be there.
If you go to a big publishing house, editorial aside, it's completely white.
I like to know how I'm supposed to feel about things. Just a little clue or hint.
Sanctimony and self-regard are as American as smallpox blankets and supersize meals.
Pain could be killed. Sadness could not, but the drugs did shut its mouth for a time.
I'm not a teacher; I'm not a historian. I'm trying to create a world for my characters.
I'm just trying to keep things rich for me creatively and for the readers who follow me.
Schools don't teach American history that well, especially a lot of black American history.
In the apocalypse, I think those average, mediocre folks are the ones who are going to live.
The city knows you better than any living person because it has seen you when you are alone.
You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now.
Google "brooklyn writer" and you'll get, Did you mean: the future of literature as we know it?
New York City does not hold our former selves against us. Perhaps we can extend the same courtesy.
Usually, when I write a novel, it takes me about 100 pages to figure out the voice of the narrator.
New York City in life was much like New York City in death. It was still hard to get a cab, for example.
For me, choosing between fiction and nonfiction is really only about picking the right tool for the job.
In 'John Henry Days,' I was taking my idea of junketeering and sort of blowing it up to absurd extremes.
I always try to mix it up with each book - changing tone, changing style keeps the work very vital for me.
For years I felt that I wasn't ready to take on slavery. It's a huge topic, and I didn't want to mess it up.
'Sag Harbor' was a very different book for me. It changed the way I thought about books that I wanted to do.
Most of my books have always worked through juxtaposition, jumping through different point of views and time.