Curtis Sittenfeld Quotes & Sayings

“Probably I, like a lot of people, became a writer in imitation of or in homage to the books I enjoyed. When you're so captivated by something, you think, could I do that? Hmm, let me try.”

“In some ways I think it would be very dignified if I went away for twenty years and then wrote my fourth book.”

“My boarding school experience was the only thing I had strong enough feelings to write about for hundreds and hundreds of pages. I can still smell the formaldehyde of the fetal pigs in biology.”

“I don't really have special rituals, but I don't try to write fiction unless I have a minimum of a few hours. For me, it takes a while to settle into a mode where I'm truly concentrating.”

“I have this theory that the likeability question comes up so much more with female characters created by female authors than it does with male characters and male authors.”

“I do think I was trying to entertain the reader more than I was trying to purge myself.”

“Well, I think that if you sincerely try to imagine what life is like for another person - not in a mocking way, not in a satirical way, but in a sincere, compassionate way - I don't think that's exploitive.”

“High school is very intense for everyone. But at a boarding school, because you're there 24 hours a day, everything gets magnified.”

“I don't think it's shameful to admit that some days your time can be better spent reading than writing.”

“I feel like if you read something, and it makes you so curious about a topic that you then go read something else, that's exciting.”