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Emma Donoghue Quotes
Emma Donoghue Quotes
Emma Donoghue
Irish
Playwright
Born:
Oct 24
,
1969
Been
Me
People
Think
Writing
You
Related authors:
Arthur Miller
Graham Greene
James M. Barrie
Lynn Nottage
Moliere
Noel Coward
Samuel Beckett
W. Somerset Maugham
I tend to be so lost in the work that I don't notice the weather. My partner will come home and say, 'Beautiful day, wasn't it?' and I'll say, 'Was it?' as I won't have noticed the real world at all.
Emma Donoghue
Work
Beautiful
Day
Home
World
Will
Weather
Partner
Lost
Say
Tend
Beautiful Day
Come
Real
The Real World
Real World
Notice
Noticed
Every parent has those moments where they look at their child and think, 'There's a demon in those eyes and no one can see it but me!'
Emma Donoghue
Me
Eyes
Every
Think
Those
See
Parent
No-One
Look
Demon
Child
Where
Moments
I've always been religiously inclined, but it doesn't come up in most of my books.
Emma Donoghue
Books
Come
Most
Always
Been
Up
Inclined
Kids delight in 'magical thinking', whether in the form of the Tooth Fairy or the saints: whether you see these as comforting lies or eternal verities, they are part of how we help kids make sense of the world.
Emma Donoghue
You
Comforting
World
Sense
Thinking
Tooth
Tooth Fairy
Kids
Lies
See
Magical
Delight
Part
Make
Fairy
How
Saints
Form
Whether
Eternal
Help
Some writers can produce marvelous plots without planning it out, but I can't. In particular I need to know the structure of a novel: what's going to happen in each chapter and each scene.
Emma Donoghue
Chapter
Out
Plots
Some
Structure
Scene
Marvelous
Writers
Particular
Know
Without
Going
Happen
Produce
Planning
Novel
Each
Need
I'm finding that success is way more time-consuming than failure ever was.
Emma Donoghue
Success
Failure
Way
Finding
More
Time-Consuming
Than
Success Is
Ever
You're meant to have an unhappy childhood to be a writer, but there's a lot to be said for a very happy one that just lets you get on with it.
Emma Donoghue
You
Happy
Unhappy
Writer
Said
Lot
Very
Get
Childhood
Just
Happy Childhood
Meant
Lets
You cannot predict literary success; the only way you can possibly aim for it is to do your thing and do it well.
Emma Donoghue
Success
You
Predict
Aim
Way
Possibly
Only
Well
Literary
Cannot
Your
Thing
For all that being a parent is normal statistically, it's not normal psychologically. It produces some of the most extreme emotions you'll ever have.
Emma Donoghue
You
Emotions
Extreme
Some
Parent
Most
Normal
Being
Psychologically
Produces
Ever
A memoir is always the most authentic telling of a situation, but a novel gets to different places.
Emma Donoghue
Situation
Telling
Memoir
Most
Always
Authentic
Gets
Different
Places
Different Places
Novel
You know the way there are two kinds of actors - the De Niro kind who's always De Niro, and then somebody like Daniel Day-Lewis, who transforms himself eerily? Well, I aim to be the Daniel Day-Lewis kind of writer. I don't have a house style.
Emma Donoghue
You
Somebody
Style
Aim
Way
Daniel
Niro
Kind
Kinds
Writer
Like
Know
De Niro
House
Well
Himself
Always
Then
Who
Actor
Two
I think it would be a shame for any writer to let their publishers in any way corral them into a single genre.
Emma Donoghue
Single
Think
Way
Would
Would-Be
Shame
Writer
Genre
Any
Them
Publishers
I remember a period where my publisher said to me, 'Look, your historical work is selling much better than your contemporary work, so please give us more historicals.'
Emma Donoghue
Work
Me
Better
Remember
Please
Give
More
Look
Contemporary
Period
Said
Historical
Selling
Than
Where
Us
Much
Your
Publisher
I would say I have sort of a natural gift for character, and following one person's point of view at a time, and dialogue, but I'm not naturally good at strong plot.
Emma Donoghue
Time
Good
Character
Natural
Gift
Strong
Say
Plot
Would
Following
Point
Point Of View
Sort
Dialogue
Person
View
Naturally
Any parent knows how to be the ideal parent.
Emma Donoghue
Parent
Ideal
Knows
How
Any
The great thing about a short story is that it doesn't have to trawl through someone's whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side.
Emma Donoghue
Life
Great
Side
About
Someone
Through
Come
Great Thing
Short
Short Story
Story
Whole
Thing
I'm really not one of these procrastinators who cleans the house in order to put off writing, but life gets in the way.
Emma Donoghue
Life
Writing
Way
Put
House
Off
Gets
Order
Really
Who
I hate desks; they make me feel like a child doing homework.
Emma Donoghue
Me
Hate
Homework
Feel
Like
Make
Doing
Child
I read three books a week.
Emma Donoghue
Three
Books
Week
Read
I got in the habit of giving away a book as soon as I've finished it because I lived in a housing co-op at Cambridge and had no space to keep books.
Emma Donoghue
Book
Space
Finished
Giving
Books
Habit
Had
Soon
Because
Housing
Got
Cambridge
Keep
Lived
Away
I love it when novels contain a broad cast of characters, including queer ones.
Emma Donoghue
Love
Broad
Characters
Cast
Contain
Queer
Including
Novels
Identity politics are wearisome; you don't want to go on speaking for any one group as a writer.
Emma Donoghue
Politics
You
Group
Writer
Identity
Go
Any
Want
Speaking
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