Donald Ray Pollock Quotes & Sayings

I don't think my book is any more shocking than if I went out right now and brought back your local newspaper and found a story that happened around here yesterday or the day before that's just as shocking as anything in my book. — Donald Ray Pollock

The way I saw the characters these things just happened naturally. At the same time - and I know it's probably not apparent when you read the book - but I really tried to hold back because I didn't want it to become a cartoon. — Donald Ray Pollock

I was always a big reader, even when everything was bad and miserable. — Donald Ray Pollock

Strangers complained about the stench, but the locals liked to brag that it was the sweet smell of money. — Donald Ray Pollock

I was 35 when I started taking classes at Ohio University. After I got my degree, I kept working at the mill. When I was 45, I decided I was going to try to learn how to write short stories. — Donald Ray Pollock

Six months ago, her old doctor at the Henry J. Hamilton Rehabilitation Centee had put her back on all her medications after somebody disguised in a paper bag had tried to strangle her in front of the Tobacco Friendly. Though she described the sack perfectly, even drew a picture of it down at the station, the cops never found a single suspect. — Donald Ray Pollock

Nobody really turns out too happy in any of my stuff. It's really strange, because I'm actually a pretty happy person. I'm not walking around giggling or anything like that, but I've got this feeling that everything is okay with my life. — Donald Ray Pollock

'Knockemstiff' is a collection of short stories set in the holler of the same name in southern Ohio where I grew up. I tried to link the stories together through the place and some recurring characters. — Donald Ray Pollock

I am very indebted to southern writers and not just Flannery O'Connor. Also Harry Crews, Larry Brown, Tennessee Williams, Barry Hannah and William Gay. — Donald Ray Pollock

They's a lot of no-good sonofabitches out there."
Arvin asks, "More than a hundred?"
Willard laughed a little and put the truck in gear. "Yeah, at least that many. — Donald Ray Pollock

It always gives me a comfort, watching the TV late at night, thinking about all the other people around Ohio watching the same old movie, maybe even thinking the same old thoughts. I picture them curled up on their couches in their living rooms, and all the lonely little sounds of the night drifting in through their window screens. — Donald Ray Pollock

I spent thirty-two years in a paper mill in southern Ohio, and before that, I worked in a meatpacking plant and a shoe factory. — Donald Ray Pollock

Michael Koryta is an amazingly talented writer, and I rank The Prophet as one of the sharpest and superbly plotted crime novels I've read in my life. — Donald Ray Pollock

A lot of people get the wrong impression, think there's something romantic or tragic about hitting bottom. — Donald Ray Pollock

I remember a class I taught at Ohio State where I assigned a Mary Gaitskill story, which really wasn't that bad, and I had this one girl refuse to read it. But better that reaction than no reaction at all. — Donald Ray Pollock

When I was growing up, I just wanted to be somewhere else. I didn't like living in Knockemstiff, and I figured when I got older, I'd move off to some big city. — Donald Ray Pollock

He imagined the door to a sad, empty room closing with a faint click, never to be opened again, and that calmed him a little. — Donald Ray Pollock

I'm beginning to believe that anything I do to extend my life is just going to be outweighed by the agony of living it. — Donald Ray Pollock

I sort of like writing about weird characters, I guess. — Donald Ray Pollock

When you first heard him talking about it, you'd figure he was batshit crazy, but really, he was just trying to fill up his days so he didn't have to think about what a fucking mess he had made of everything. It's the same for most of us; forgetting our lives might be the best we'll ever do. — Donald Ray Pollock

Some people were born just so they could be buried. — Donald Ray Pollock

J.R. Angelella is a truly gifted writer. Zombie is one of the smartest, strangest, and most beautifully crafted coming-of-age stories you will ever encounter. — Donald Ray Pollock

Unless he had whiskey running through his veins, Willard came to the clearing every morning and evening to talk to God. Arvin didn't know which was worse, the drinking or the praying. As far back as he could remember, it seemed that his father had fought the Devil all the time. — Donald Ray Pollock

If the story wasn't overly long, I'd type it out. And I'd carry it around with me for a week and jot notes on it, and then I'd throw it away and do another one. — Donald Ray Pollock

I don't know,' Del said. 'I read this book. I guess you could say we were looking for a better life.'
'Did you find it?' the Fish Stick Girl asked.
'No, it was just a goddamn book. I ain't read one since. — Donald Ray Pollock

I'm not sure about 'absolute' happiness, but I am happiest when I go to bed at night knowing that I tried to do my best that day. — Donald Ray Pollock

I'd always been a big reader, and I loved books, and I always thought writing would be a great way to get by in the world. — Donald Ray Pollock

The glass door swung open and two big, homely women walked in looking guilty. They were the kind of women who, out of sheer loneliness, end up doing kinky stuff with candy bars and wake up with apple fritters in their hair. — Donald Ray Pollock

When I started graduate school we did this publishing class where we learned about submitting and read interviews with editors from different magazines. A lot of them said they got so many submissions that unless the first page stuck out or the first paragraph or even the first sentence they'll probably send it back. So part of my idea was that if I have a really good first sentence maybe they'll read on a bit further. At least half, maybe more of the stories in Knockemstiff started with the first sentence; I got it down then went from there. — Donald Ray Pollock

Don't get me wrong: I think that everyone should put forth an effort to do better, but let's face it, some of us are just plain luckier than others. — Donald Ray Pollock

I'm trying to break myself of that habit [of not writing out a first draft ] because I'm working on a couple novels and I know if I tried to write those books the way I wrote the stories it would take me years to finish. — Donald Ray Pollock

When I first started out, I was trying to write stories about nurses and lawyers and a lot of people I didn't know anything about, and they just weren't working. — Donald Ray Pollock

I would like to write a book that wasn't so violent and weird, but I just don't think I can do that with my talent. I don't think it would come off. — Donald Ray Pollock

I took a correspondence course with a guy at Ohio University. He gave me ten exercises, and one of them resulted in the story "Bactine." It pleased me a lot more than anything else I'd ever done, so I kept messing around and by the time I got to Ohio State I'd written maybe eight stories. — Donald Ray Pollock

I listen to a lot of different stuff, from Mozart to Johnny Dowd to Monster Magnet. I don't listen to music while I'm writing a draft, but I do listen to it when I'm revising. — Donald Ray Pollock

When I turned fifty, I decided to quit the mill and go to graduate school. — Donald Ray Pollock

Because of who we were, I already knew what we would do. — Donald Ray Pollock

The Oxys filled holes in me I hadn't realized were empty. It was, at least for those first few months, a wonderful way to be disabled. I felt blessed. — Donald Ray Pollock

I worked in a paper mill all my adult life and there were a lot of funny guys there. So you pick up on that. Even though something really bad might have happened to somebody you can still make a joke out of it. — Donald Ray Pollock

Four hundred or so people lived in Knockemstiff in 1957, nearly all of them connected by blood through one godforsaken calamity or another, be it lust or necessity or just plain ignorance. — Donald Ray Pollock

I'm probably the least cerebral guy you're ever going to meet as a writer. — Donald Ray Pollock

It's hard to live a good life ... It seems like the Devil don't ever let up. — Donald Ray Pollock

I would try to write my own story about some East Coast suburbanite having an affair or something like that. So I did that for maybe two years or so, and it just wasn't working for me at all. — Donald Ray Pollock

Look, girls don't care how many push-ups you can do. They just want to get high and wear flowers in their hair. Maybe steal a car. — Donald Ray Pollock

A damp, gray sky covered southern Ohio like the skin of a corpse. — Donald Ray Pollock

I'm not really a good reader. What I mean is, I think I'm not one of those people who can read a story and analyze it just like that. — Donald Ray Pollock

You can't be a pussy all your life Todd. Someday you're just gonna have to say fuck it. — Donald Ray Pollock

I had this bad habit of not writing out a first draft and going back. For me it was the first sentence, then the second sentence, and I might be several weeks on the first page instead of writing a draft and trying to figure it out from there. — Donald Ray Pollock

Jimmy's eyes would turn as red and sticky as candy, and his head would fall back against the seat in a dream. If he were lucky tonight, maybe he would see something that he hadn't seen before. And then it would be my turn. — Donald Ray Pollock