William Landay
William Landay
William Landayis an American novelist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
CountryUnited States of America
book writing ignored
You can write a great book and be ignored. Literary history is full of classics that were under-appreciated in their own time.
sports book bostonians
I love sports, as all Bostonians seem to. I love books and movies, as all writers seem to.
book writing please-me
I don't ever write with a particular audience in mind. I just write books that please me.
book people world
But sometimes you can't figure everything out because you can't ever really understand other people. You can't understand why they do what they do. You just have to accept a little mystery, Ben. People are mysterious, the world is mysterious. You can't know everything. You're not supposed to. This isn't a history book. It's just the world. It's a messy place.
assistant crossed decided earn mind time
When I was 30 or so - by that time I had become an assistant D.A. - I decided I would try to write a novel. To be clear: I did not decide to become a novelist. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that I could actually earn a living as a professional novelist.
stories conflict driven
Good stories are driven by conflict, tension, and high stakes.
lying stories crime
Crime and legal stories, broadly speaking, are just where my interest happens to lie.
thinking long junk
The rest-the vast majority, tens of thousands of days-are unremarkable, repetitive, even monotonous. We glide through them then instantly forget them. We tend not to think about this arithmetic when we look back on our lives. We remember the handful of Big Days and throw away the rest. We organize our long, shapeless lives into tidy little stories...But our lives are mostly made up of junk, of ordinary, forgettable days, and 'The End' is never the end.
stories moments absolutes
There is no absolute beginning to any story, after all. There is only the moment you begin watching.
moving men rough-times
We move through time like a man in a rowboat, looking back even as we move forward.
predestination
Predisposition is not predestination.
mind guilt doe
the act does not create guilt unless the mind is also guilty.
damage
Damage hardens us all. It will harden you too, when it finds you—and it will find you
hate ideas desire-love
An emotion is a thought, yes, an idea, but it is also a sensation, an ache in your body. Desire, love, hate, fear, repulsion - you feel these things in your muscle and bones, not just in your mind.