The Spooky Art

Praise

Norman Mailer in The Spooky Art

On the writer’s ambition:
People don’t become authors solely to benefit humanity. They’re in the same position as priests. Part of them wants to be good to others; the other side wants, one way or the other, to have some sort of acquaintance with power.

On crafting characters:
It is not easy to write in the first person about a man who’s stronger or braver than yourself. It’s too close to self-serving. All the same, you have to be able to do it. Because if every one of your characters is kept down to your level, you do not take on large subjects. You need people more heroic than yourself, more enterprising, less timid, sexier, more romantic, more tragic.


On experience:
A very young writer sits on a park bench with his girl. He kisses her. He’s seventeen. He’s never had such a kiss before.
Later that night, he tries to capture the event. He writes:
I love you, he said.
I love you, she said.
He stops, throws down his pen, and says, “I’m a great writer!”
Sometimes, you have to wait.

On stamina:
Over the years, I’ve found one rule. It is the only one I give on those occasions when I talk about writing. A simple rule. If you tell yourself you are going to be at your desk tomorrow, you are by that declaration asking your unconscious to prepare the material. You are, in effect, contracting to pick up such valuables at a given time. Count on me, you are saying to a few forces below: I will be there to write.


From the Hardcover edition.