David Guterson Quotes

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David Guterson

Profession : Author

Birth : May 4, 1956

Writing became an obsessive compulsive habit but I had almost no money so I thought about being an urban firefighter and having lots of free time in which to write or becoming an English teacher and thinking about books and writers on a daily basis. That swayed me.

David Guterson

It's a brooding melancholy that haunts me.

David Guterson

Everybody has a world, and that world is completely hidden until we begin to inquire. As soon as we do, that entire world opens to us and yields itself. And you see how full and complex it is.

David Guterson

I write because something inner and unconscious forces me to. That is the first compulsion. The second is one of ethical and moral duty. I feel responsible to tell stories that inspire readers to consider more deeply who they are.

David Guterson

When I went to college I took a creative writing class and decided in a week to be a writer.

David Guterson

I have relaxed into my persona as an author, although I used to fight that.

David Guterson

What some people interpret as brooding melancholy is serenity. I don't feel required to grasp all the time.

David Guterson

Hemingway said the only way to write about a place is to leave it.

David Guterson

My book is traditional. It runs counter to the post-modern spirit.

David Guterson

At one level you're condemned to the voice you have. But within those confines, you have a certain amount of freedom to range among your possible voices.

David Guterson

Cities produce in me melancholy or a tension I don't need.

David Guterson

Don Quixote is one that comes to mind in comparison to mine, in that they both involve journeys undertaken by older men. That is unusual, because generally the hero of a journey story is very young.

David Guterson

Even though I may not intend it when I set out to write the book, these places just emerge as major players in what I'm doing, almost as if they are insisting on it.

David Guterson

Fiction is socially meaningful.

David Guterson

I became paralyzed as an artist with writer's block.

David Guterson

I grew up in Seattle, but I always knew I wanted to leave.

David Guterson

I have traveled the entire state and spent a lot of time out of doors. So I have known the landscape of the Columbia Basin for quite a while, and I have had this strong feeling about it for many years.

David Guterson

I often heard about his cases and I often sat in on his trials. In the late 1960s when I was growing up I wanted to be a crusader like him but I didn't want to wear a suit and commute.

David Guterson

I think of myself as a really happy person.

David Guterson

I think you have an obligation to share what you know as a writer.

David Guterson