Joshua Ferris Quotes About Writing

Quotes about: Writing

• I don't write directly on to the computer because I don't think well facing forward with fingers on a keyboard. I think better looking down holding a pen. And the concentration quotient of pen and paper is higher than when I'm moving words around on screen.

  Joshua Ferris

  Moving, Writing, Thinking

  "Writers' rooms: Joshua Ferris", www.theguardian.com. September 21, 2007.

• My first job is to write a book that I believe is compelling and deserves the long sustained attention that any novel requires, and to worry about the commerce only late in the game.

  Joshua Ferris

  Jobs, Book, Believe

  "Joshua Ferris Interview: Rock Star in the Book Store". Interview with Jason Pinter, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 10, 2010.

• I'm not sure that all books aren't that way. I think that might apply to any book I was writing. The book was kind of the product of this enormous infatuation I had, not only with the office and office politics, but with perspective, and trying to tell a story from as wide a range of perspectives as you possibly can. I tried to capture it all with the first-person plural, but once I settled on that, I used it to tell the story from as many angles as I could. I guess, to put it romantically, it was about a love affair with the craft of perspective.

  Joshua Ferris

  Book, Writing, Thinking

  Source: www.avclub.com

• 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

  Giving Up, Book, Writing

  Source: www.avclub.com

• The whole time I was writing, I had to fight my normal inclination to be funny, to sort of patch humor in, in order to convey all of the disruptions of the disease to the family dynamic, the loss of individuality, the impact on professional life, and the sanity of the main character. Of course, that's not to say it never sneaks in; there's some black comedy in there, like when he shows up to court wearing a bicycle helmet and won't take it off.

  Joshua Ferris

  Writing, Character, Fighting

  Source: www.avclub.com

• I think comedy is so much easier to do on the page than it is in real life. When I'm writing, comedy is an easy way to win over the reader. You're automatically more disposed to keep reading, thinking maybe, "I'll get another laugh or two." I think it's a survival instinct in me. I mean, you don't want to lose these guys within five or ten pages. You want them to keep going. I think to some extent it's a desperate measure that I throw out there, because a novel isn't a complete waste of time if it made you laugh.

  Joshua Ferris

  Real, Reading, Mean

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• I think it's a very bad idea for someone to start writing for a readership.

  Joshua Ferris

  Writing, Thinking, Ideas

  "Joshua Ferris Interview: Rock Star in the Book Store". Interview with Jason Pinter, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 10, 2010.

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