Our task as fiction writers isn't just to report something that didn't really happen. We have to give what we write a sense of reality. The tool of our tradition is language. Alice McDermott fictiongivehappen Change image and share on social
I have a great fondness for the liars in my stories. Alice McDermott fondnessgreatliar Change image and share on social
I am trying to cultivate the notion that constantly misplacing one's cell phone is a charming eccentricity... my children aren't buying it. Alice McDermott buycellcharm Change image and share on social
I am not a theologian or a historian, and I feel no call to become a defender of the faith, so in my case, the search for what remains valuable focuses on language itself: Catholic prayer, ritual, the naming of things. Alice McDermott callcasecatholic share on social
You're a human being, and every time a list of prize nominations comes out and your name isn't on it, you do have that thumb-in-the-eye feeling. Alice McDermott eyefelthuman Change image and share on social
My parents were both first-generation Irish Catholics raised in Brooklyn. Alice McDermott brooklyncatholicgeneration Change image and share on social
I'm a novelist. I'm not a crusader, and I'm not an editorial writer. And I'm not writing fiction to convince anybody of anything. Alice McDermott convincecrusadereditorial Change image and share on social
I don't want to write about violence, and I don't want to hang a plot on a murder. I think it's cheap. Alice McDermott cheaphangmurder Change image and share on social
I'm more interested in character than events. I've observed that about myself as a writer. I find events, even the most dramatic sort, not to be such fertile ground. Alice McDermott characterdramaticevent Change image and share on social