It took me 10 years to write a story that pleased me – that I could look at after it was published and not cringe.
BEN FOUNTAINIt is sort of weird being honored for the worst day of your life.
More Ben Fountain Quotes
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I got brilliant stories from people who’d never set foot in an MFA program and had published very little, and terrible stories from people who’d published a lot and had all the credentials. It was all over the map and that was part of the fun.
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By the end of the first decade of writing, I considered myself a confirmed failure in the eyes of the world.
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I took two fiction-writing courses in college and majored in literature. I felt that I had a knack though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a talent. But it scared me. I felt it was a childish thing wanting to write and that I would forget about it eventually.
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It is sort of weird being honored for the worst day of your life.
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Somewhere along the way America became a giant mall with a country attached.
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At a certain point I decided to keep on because I felt like the work was getting better, and I was taking great pleasure in that.
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I thought when I started writing that I’d have a book out in four or five years, and as it became apparent that that wasn’t going to happen, I became increasingly frustrated and unsure of myself.
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I realized I was never going to have any peace with myself unless I made an honest stab at trying to write.
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I think if you spend much time dwelling on influence you can get self-conscious about every line you write. That’s a great way to freeze up.
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I never listen to music when I’m writing.
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I have a horror of being self-indulgent and wasting time, and there is that risk in doing this kind of work. Are you totally deluded in sitting down at a desk every day and trying to write something? Is it self-indulgent, or might it possibly lead to something worthwhile?
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I kept going back while I was writing the novel – which never sold, may it rest in peace – and by the time it was finished I had too many connections to Haiti to walk away.
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I’m ashamed and embarrassed to say that I’ve read very little of David Foster Wallace’s work. It’s a huge gap in my education, one of many.
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The funny thing is, about the time I let go of any aspiration toward worldly success, that’s about the time I started writing decent work.
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Eruptions of talent continue to happen in Haiti, in spite of everything.
BEN FOUNTAIN