Anne Tyler Quotes

Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!
Anne Tyler

Amazing, Greatest, Mean

I expect that any day now, I will have said all I have to say; I'll have used up all my characters, and then I'll be free to get on with my real life.
Anne Tyler

Life, Real, Free

For my own family, I would always choose the makeshift, surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood.
Anne Tyler

Family, Blood, Choose

It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from.
Anne Tyler

Children, Writing, Self

The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.
Anne Tyler

Write, Novel, Dinner

But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.
Anne Tyler

Hope, Book, Through

I can never tell ahead of time which book will give me trouble - some balk every step of the way, others seem to write themselves - but certainly the mechanics of writing, finding the time and the psychic space, are easier now that my children are grown.
Anne Tyler

Time, Children, Book

I've always thought a hotel ought to offer optional small animals. I mean a cat to sleep on your bed at night, or a dog of some kind to act pleased when you come in. You ever notice how a hotel room feels so lifeless?
Anne Tyler

Sleep, Mean, Night

My family can always tell when I'm well into a novel because the meals get very crummy.
Anne Tyler

Family, Tell, Novel

And I am interested in the fact that class is very much a factor in America, even though it's not supposed to be.
Anne Tyler

America, Fact, Though

At most I'll spend three or four hours daily, sometimes less.
Anne Tyler

Daily, Sometimes, Less

For me, writing something down was the only road out.
Anne Tyler

Writing, Down, Road

I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.
Anne Tyler

End, Try, Again

I didn't really choose to write; I more or less fell into it.
Anne Tyler

Write, Less, Choose

I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage.
Anne Tyler

Family, History, Character

I don't want to say I hear voices; well, actually I do hear voices, but I don't think it's supernatural. I think it's just that when characters are given enough texture and backbone, then lo and behold, they stand on their own.
Anne Tyler

Enough, Stand, Actually

I forget a book as soon as I finish writing it, which is not always a good thing.
Anne Tyler

Good, Forget, Book

I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns.
Anne Tyler

Give, Thought, Living

I never think about the actual process of writing. I suppose I have a superstition about examining it too closely.
Anne Tyler

Writing, Process, Actual

I remember leaving the hospital - thinking, 'Wait, are they going to let me just walk off with him? I don't know beans about babies! I don't have a license to do this.' We're just amateurs.
Anne Tyler

Thinking, Him, Remember

I save the best of myself for novels, and I believe it shows.
Anne Tyler

Best, Shows, Save

I spend about a year between novels.
Anne Tyler

Between, Year, Spend

I think it must be very hard to be one of the new young writers who are urged to put themselves forward when it may be the last thing on earth they'd be good at.
Anne Tyler

Good, Forward, Hard

I was standing in the schoolyard waiting for a child when another mother came up to me. Have you found work yet? she asked. Or are you still just writing?
Anne Tyler

Work, Waiting, Mother

I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them - without a thought about publication - and only in the last draft to consider how the work will look from the outside.
Anne Tyler

Work, Thought, Else

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Biography

Nationality: American

Born: October 25, 1941

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