I never know when I finish the novel I am writing which will be the next novel out of the station. John Irving finishstationwrite Change image and share on social
'The Fourth Hand' was a novel that came from twenty years of screenwriting concurrently with whatever novel I'm writing. John Irving concurrentlyfourthhand Change image and share on social
The principal event of my childhood was that no adult in my family would tell me who my father was. John Irving adultchildhoodevent Change image and share on social
I had been a student in Vienna, and one of the neat little things I had found out was about that zoo. It was a good debut novel for me to have published. I was 26 or 27 when it was published. I already had a kid and would soon have a second. John Irving debutfindgood share on social
Sigmund Freud was a novelist with a scientific background. He just didn't know he was a novelist. All those damn psychiatrists after him, they didn't know he was a novelist either. John Irving backgrounddamnfreud Change image and share on social
Anybody can do research. The plotting of the novel, writing the ending before you write anything else, which I always do - I don't know that everybody can do that. That's the hard part. John Irving endhardpart Change image and share on social
Of all the things you choose in life, you don't get to choose what your nightmares are. You don't pick them; they pick you. John Irving chooselifenightmare Change image and share on social
I think that writers are, at best, outsiders to the society they inhabit. They have a kind of detachment, or try to have. John Irving detachmentinhabitkind Change image and share on social
If you're still wondering about details - how am I going to get these two to meet, or whatever - when you're writing, you can't pay proper attention to the sentences themselves. John Irving attentiondetailmeet Change image and share on social
My old coach used to say that if you were in it for the match, if you were in it for the trophies, you were in it for the wrong reasons. John Irving coachmatchreason Change image and share on social
