James Salter
James Salter
James Arnold Horowitz, better known as James Salter, his pen name and later-adopted legal name, was an American novelist and short-story writer. Originally a career officer and pilot in the United States Air Force, he resigned from the military in 1957 following the successful publication of his first novel, The Hunters...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth10 June 1925
CountryUnited States of America
zero writing way
If you write enough, you begin to learn to do things. But in a way, you do start from zero each time.
george himself published thrilled
'The Paris Review' was always the pinnacle: it was the place to be published. You were thrilled if you were published in 'The Paris Review,' and George Plimpton himself was practically mythical. He was a legendary figure.
came felt life time unless
There came a time when I felt I was not going to be satisfied with life unless I could write.
You have your brains, but it's energy and desire that make you write a book.
business call entire fountain letters phone remember wrote
The publishers, as I remember at the very beginning of my career, wrote letters with their fountain pens. A letter is different from a phone call or fax. It's a different kind of intimacy. That pervaded the entire business of writing and publishing.
life writers
Most writers can write three times as many books as I have and still live a life.
editorial merely might published took
My first book was published without any editorial advice. Nobody said, 'You might do this or that,' or 'Why don't we see more of this.' I merely took the book and published it.
everybody gives good john names piece whom writers
There are writers for whom names mean nothing; everybody could be called John and Elizabeth, and the writing would be just as good. A name, of course, is like a piece of clothing, isn't it? It gives you an impression right away.
becomes except future lasts living people present question reflected since suppose time written
People have reflected on the quality of time ever since they've been writing. I suppose I have thought about and written about the question of living in the present - but it only lasts for an instant, and then everything becomes the past. The future, you know nothing about, except for some anticipations you have.
I write in longhand. I am accustomed to that proximity, that feel of writing. Then I sit down and type.
given good taught
I think you can be taught to write. You can't be taught to be a good writer. For that, you have to bring something to it, yourself, something that can't be given to you.
hope man
I would say that I am a jaded man beyond most expectations, but, like everyone else, I still have hope.
tend
West Pointers tend to be rigorously honest - more than necessary, in my view.
course gives piece
A name, of course is like a piece of clothing, isn't it? It gives you an impression right away.