Donna Tartt

I just finished writing an essay about William Maxwell, an American writer whose work I admire very much. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#admire #american #american writer #essay #finished

I love the tradition of Dickens, where even the most minor walk-on characters are twitching and particular and alive. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#characters #dickens #even #i #i love

I really do work in solitude. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#really #solitude #work

I think innocence is something that adults project upon children that's not really there. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#i #i think #innocence #project #really

I think it's hard to write about children and to have an idea of innocence. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#children #hard #i #i think #idea

I'd rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#good #good book #i #mediocre #ones

I've written only two novels, but they're both long ones, and they each took a decade to write. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#decade #each #i #long #novels

In order for a long piece of work to engage a novelist over an extended period of time, it has to deal with questions that you find very important, that you're trying to work out. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#engage #extended #find #important #long

It's hard for me to show work while I'm writing, because other people's comments will influence what happens. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#comments #happens #hard #i #influence

My novels aren't really generated by a single conceptual spark; it's more a process of many different elements that come together unexpectedly over a long period of time. ↗

— Donna Tartt

#conceptual #different #different elements #elements #generated