Flannery O’Connor: Writing

“I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.”

“Not-writing is a good deal worse than writing.”

“Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.”

“People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.”

“Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn't try to write fiction. It's not a grand enough job for you.”

“There is no excuse for anyone to write fiction for public consumption unless he has been called to do so by the presence of a gift. It is the nature of fiction not to be good for much unless it is good in itself.”

“Remember that you don't write a story because you have an idea but because you have a believable character.”

“I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.”

“Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay.”