Mary J. Miller Quotes

I wish I knew exactly who I was. I was talking to a friend earlier about the advice people give each other, advice like "just be yourself," and how this is particularly awful because it presumes we know who we are. As if people are static and unchanging.

Mary J. Miller

Being Yourself, Talking, People

Source: therumpus.net

5 Copy quote
It's definitely about the rhythm of the words and how they sound together, writing one sentence and then another and another and cutting something immediately if it doesn't feel true. I come from a family of musicians and - while I have no musical abilities of my own - I think I inherited a good ear.

Mary J. Miller

Writing, Cutting, Thinking

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I think training your instinct comes from writing and reading. There's no big secret. And reading slush helps, as well; I'd recommend everyone edit a literary magazine at some point. It's time-consuming, but there's a lot to learn from other writers who are also learning. The patterns (twelve stories about whales in this batch?) are also interesting.

Mary J. Miller

Reading, Writing, Thinking

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
To be quite honest, along with thinking and such when it comes to writing, I'm not into words like "theory." I'm a PhD dropout. No matter how many twenty-five-page papers I wrote, I never felt like I was saying much. I didn't feel like the writer of the book, whose work I was analyzing, would have been impressed. It didn't matter how much time or effort I put in.

Mary J. Miller

Book, Writing, Thinking

Source: therumpus.net

10 Copy quote
There were definitely scenes I struggled with more than others: the car accident and the thunderstorm are two that come to mind. It's difficult to write about a thunderstorm. There are only so many ways to describe it and our vocabulary is so limited. And the car accident scene required a tense, manic quality that had to be conveyed in the language, as well as the character's dialogue and actions. I was editing these scenes long after I thought I was finished with them.

Mary J. Miller

Character, Writing, Two

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
There are many stories I've wanted to write that I'm simply not able to - sometimes I haven't found the way in yet, and it doesn't matter how hard I try.

Mary J. Miller

Writing, Trying, Way

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
A story works when there's momentum, life behind the words. Some stories have this and others don't, and it's difficult to say why this is. If all stories "worked," though, writing wouldn't be much of a challenge; it wouldn't be art.

Mary J. Miller

Art, Writing, Challenges

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I've learned a lot about language from reading slush. You can immediately tell if a writer is in control of the narrative. This writer will avoid using too many words like "possibly," "probably," "maybe," "perhaps," etc. He/she will avoid using clichés, as well as a lot of metaphors, and won't take four sentences to say what they could in one (or write a great sentence and follow it up with a bunch of stuff that just weakens it).

Mary J. Miller

Reading, Writing, Four

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
Good writing, in my opinion, is writing that looks really easy, so easy that a person who has never written more than a grocery list might convince themself that they could also write a book. That being said, it's always a lot of work, as you know. And then there's this: you have no idea how many failed stories and novels I've attempted. I have files full of stories that didn't work for whatever reason.

Mary J. Miller

Book, Writing, Ideas

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
It's also obsessiveness. I'll spend a lot of time working on a single sentence, debating over a dash or a colon, etc. I want things to be perfect. I know nothing will ever be as perfect as I want it, and this is very sad, but sometimes I can get close.

Mary J. Miller

Perfect, Want, Etc

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I try to think as little as possible, at least while working. I look at some of my early stories and can see the machination behind them, like a gear slowly moving. For example, sticking a dead father into the story to explain a character's sadness and bad decisions, or trying to impress myself with my own cleverness.

Mary J. Miller

Father, Moving, Character

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
You don't need a dead father to explain a character's sadness. And impressing yourself with wit/cleverness often feels like what it is - authorial intrusion.

Mary J. Miller

Father, Character, Sadness

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I think there simply comes a point at which you're beating your head against the wall with revision, when you're making something different but not better. For me, revision usually has more to do with making the language prettier, finding clearer images, using more active verbs.

Mary J. Miller

Wall, Thinking, Different

Source: therumpus.net

7 Copy quote
There's definitely a magical quality to writing that can't be explained. I can write something I love in two days, or I can work on a story every day for months and it never comes together.

Mary J. Miller

Writing, Two, Quality

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
It's something that's difficult to explain but I think all writers work this way to some extent, whether we're aware of it or not. For me, writing has little to do with thinking. I don't want to control the narrative. I listen to the rhythm of the words and dialogue and try to give the characters the space in which to say and do what they want without intervening too much.

Mary J. Miller

Writing, Character, Thinking

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
Sometimes the way comes later, when I'm not working or thinking about it at all. When stories don't work, you try to convince yourself that all of that time and energy wasn't wasted, that it will make you a better writer, if nothing else.

Mary J. Miller

Thinking, Trying, Energy

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
Perhaps adding a line or two of dialogue to try to better capture an emotion. But I've found that if the story isn't there in the beginning, right from the start, I generally can't beat it into shape no matter how much rewriting I do.

Mary J. Miller

Two, Trying, Matter

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I don't revise a lot when writing short stories. As far as the novel, I definitely thought more about plot. Honestly, I'm still pretty confused about what "plot" means. I've been reading some of my Goodreads reviews and one reader noted that the The Last Days of California "reads like a short story stretched to the breaking point, padded and brought into novel range..." I don't know what people want, really.

Mary J. Miller

Confused, Reading, Mean

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I don't know what people want, really. Does somebody have to die? What is meant by resolution? These are questions that I don't quite know what to do with. That being said, I did want the characters to be changed by the end of the book. But will what they've gone through alter their lives from this point forward, i.e. will they make different (better) choices? Probably not.

Mary J. Miller

Book, Character, People

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I suppose this is, essentially, my perspective on life. Just because we've made mistakes and learned things from them intellectually doesn't mean we won't continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

Mary J. Miller

Mistake, Mean, Perspective

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I can't remember who said it - I think it was Allan Gurganus when he was visiting the Michener Center - but he told us to "spend [our] gold," meaning, put everything you have into a story. Other "gold" will be waiting for you for your next project.

Mary J. Miller

Thinking, Waiting, Gold

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
It's difficult for me to imagine any scene differently because I've read the book so many times. The book, as a whole, seems like a document that wouldn't withstand any changes at this point. Or perhaps I simply can't imagine having to revise it again.

Mary J. Miller

Book, Imagine, Scene

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I also liked it when professors assigned us stories that they love. In general, I liked workshops more when they were more than just a workshop, when the professor took the time to actually guide us as young writers and teach us things it took them a long time to figure out on their own. I could probably write ten pages on this question.

Mary J. Miller

Writing, Long, Stories

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I haven't taught creative writing all that much (my CW teaching consists of a few summer workshops for elementary school children and an eight-week class for older adults), and I don't really know what my teaching style is yet.

Mary J. Miller

Summer, Children, Teaching

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote
I want to be able to discuss craft but I also want to teach writers to trust their instincts and learn to listen to themselves above all others.

Mary J. Miller

Crafts, Want, Able

Source: therumpus.net

4 Copy quote

Latest quotes from interviews

"Some of the things I liked in my years as a student in workshops: the occasional in-class prompt; discussions about what it means to be a writer in the world; professors who are brutally honest and encouraging at the same time (this is a tough one)."

- Mary J. Miller,

therumpus.net, added Jan 19, 2016

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