If I waited till I felt like writing, I'd never write at all.

- Anne Tyler

My writing day has grown shorter as I've aged, although it seems to produce the same number of pages.

- Anne Tyler

The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning.

- Anne Tyler

I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage.

- Anne Tyler

I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns.

- Anne Tyler

I think it must be very hard to be one of the new young writers who are urged to put themselves forward when it may be the last thing on earth they'd be good at.

- Anne Tyler

I'll write maybe one long paragraph describing the events, then a page or two breaking the events into chapters, and then reams of pages delving into my characters. After that, I'm ready to begin.

- Anne Tyler

The Amateur Marriage grew out of the reflection that of all the opportunities to show differences in character, surely an unhappy marriage must be the richest.

- Anne Tyler

While armchair travelers dream of going places, traveling armchairs dream of staying put.

- Anne Tyler

My decision to start a new one is just that, a decision, since I never get inspirations.

- Anne Tyler

My stories are never quite good enough.

- Anne Tyler

I've always enjoyed studying the small clues that indicate a particular class level.

- Anne Tyler

I'm too shy for personal appearances, and I've found out that anytime I talk about my writing, I can't do any writing for many weeks afterward.

- Anne Tyler

I spend about a year between novels.

- Anne Tyler

I save the best of myself for novels, and I believe it shows.

- Anne Tyler

I forget a book as soon as I finish writing it, which is not always a good thing.

- Anne Tyler

I didn't really choose to write; I more or less fell into it.

- Anne Tyler

For me, writing something down was the only road out.

- Anne Tyler

At most I'll spend three or four hours daily, sometimes less.

- Anne Tyler

And I am interested in the fact that class is very much a factor in America, even though it's not supposed to be.

- Anne Tyler