Patrick deWitt

“I do not know what it was about that boy but just looking at him, even I wanted to clout him on the head. It was a head that invited violence.”

“Certain writers look down their noses at plot, and I think I might have been one of them until I tried it.”

“All of my close friends are emotional train wrecks. This is what makes our lives interesting - constantly doubting ourselves, worrying, wondering if we've made a mistake. Could we have done better? Are we good people? Are we bad people?”

“My interest in words and literature is always changing. And every day of work is different, and it doesn't feel laborious in the way that, say, washing dishes did. I'm quite happy to be doing what I'm doing, and I feel very lucky.”

“I'm never doing anything by rote. I'm only on thin ice, and I think that that's a good place to be. I feel like when you push yourself like that, the rewards can be pretty great.”

“Some deeper part of me wants to write comical dialogue; I'd be foolish to not follow that impulse. Now I recognize that if there's energy to a section of work, you go where the energy is. It's a living thing, and you just follow it.”

“When your protagonist bores you, you're in trouble.”

“I don't know that I'd call myself an optimist.”

“I was halfway through a rough draft of 'The Sisters Brothers' when it came time to start the 'Terri' adaptation.”

“'The Sisters Brothers' has endeared so many prize juries because the Western format has more of a broad appeal and is familiar to readers.”

“Some wear greed as a fine suit of clothes. But you, my son, bear its stamp ever more poorly.”

“The hardest thing in the world for a writer is to amass a readership. So many good books come out, and so many good books disappear.”

“I've been surprised at how much an unknown like myself can accomplish just by reaching out to people and pleading my case. Quotes for the book cover, reviews and interviews, readings and radio appearances - all this by simply moving ahead and making contact with folks I thought might enjoy the writing.”

“The reason I like Portland is the idea of going to a supermarket and knowing there's no way to be recognized. L.A. is so social.”

“Humorous writing is often thought of as substandard in comparison to work with a more dramatic or tragic intent. I don't know what to say to this except that I disagree wholeheartedly.”

“Often the starting point for characters, for me, is finding a little, most minor detail, and I'll go from there.”

“My instinct is to write under the cloak of an opaque historical setting.”

“I sighed. ‘It doesn’t matter what we do. Money comes and goes.’ I shook my head. ‘It doesn’t matter and you know it doesn’t.”

“There is nothing typical about my profession.’ Suddenly I did not want to talk about it any longer. ‘I don’t want to talk about it any longer.”

“The idea is this: It's important to upset one's work habits, to topple the cart for each project.”