I think that maybe happy families don't need stories the way unhappy families need stories. Maybe they're too … - Peter Orner

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Quote of the day

Our ability to perceive the world around us seems so effortless that we tend to take it for granted.

Peter Orner

I think that maybe happy families don't need stories the way unhappy families need stories. Maybe they're too busy living that they don't actually step back and talk about life like the Anton Chekhov quote. I prefer Anton Chekhov to Lev Tolstoy, and the reason is because of what he leaves out. Sometimes I think Tolstoy had a theory that he was proving and he proved it. Chekhov is more ambiguous.

Lev, Sometimes, Theory, Thinking, Unhappy

Same Author Quotes

What you can do with a short story that you can't do with a novel is punch someone in the gut, in the best of ways.

Gut, Guts, Novel, Short Story, Story

My first book came out again - the re-issue from 2001. I was rereading it to make sure that I didn't miss any mistakes, and I didn't know who had written some of these stories. I really didn't. I am a different person now. It's weird. I think if stories are good, they have to have a life of their own that's independent of the writer. I like to think of my characters out there in other peoples' heads. That's a nice thing to think about.

2001, Book, Independent, Mistake, Nice, Writer

Maybe my work is somewhat divided into family stories, things I know intimately, and then everybody else in the world - the strangers who I am totally fascinated with.

Everybody, Family, Know, Somewhat, Stranger, World

A collection, for me, is a book of very diverse stories that somehow speak to each other, across wide geography, across time, years, decades.

Book, Collection, Decades, Stories, Years

I beat a story to within an inch of its life - that's when I know its done. Not before, not after.

Beats, Done, Inch, Know, Stories, Story