I could stifle my voice, or strip it. I know that I could, because we can do anything we put our minds to. I know that I could, but it feels very unnatural for me to strip my prose like that, in part because place is so important to me. Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
I’ve heard some writers say that they are obsessed with certain ideas and that they find themselves writing around the same obsession again and again, but telling different stories to get at that same idea. I’m beginning to think that I suffer from this syndrome, too. Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
I feel like in the reading I did when I was growing up, and also in the way that people talk and tell stories here in the South, they use a lot of figurative language. The stories that I heard when I was growing up, and the stories that I read, taught me to use the kind of language that I do. It’s hard for me to work against that when I am writing. Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
I’m a failed poet. Reading poetry helps me to see the world differently, and I try to infuse my prose with figurative language, which goes against the trend in fiction. Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
I’ve been in so many writing workshops where someone hands in a story, and when the other writers in the workshop are giving feedback, they say, ‘This is unbelievable.’ And the writer says, ‘Well, actually, the events are based in real life. This actually happened.’ Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
In the past, I travelled with ‘The Hero and the Crown’ by Robin McKinley: I suffer from a fear of flying, and I felt a bit safer knowing I carried the book and characters with me. Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
I read the last Harry Potter, and I cried for at least the last 70 pages. Awful! I was curled into a ball and I just kept sobbing. It was embarrassing. I was loud, and I just kept wiping tears away so I could see the page. Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
The reason that I like to use classical myths as models is because African American writers and African American stories are usually understood as occurring in some kind of vacuum – because of slavery. Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
I always think about Faulkner, and I would argue that there can be a difference between the way that characters express themselves internally and externally. Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
On one hand, I can say, you know, I had many family members – I had many people in my extended family who left right after Katrina, who relocated to different cities, right? Houston, Atlanta. Right? Most of them have come back. Jesmyn Ward Read Quote
