Manuel Puig Quotes

For me, as a writer, I desperately want to be read. I'm very conscious of readers as I'm writing. I think, 'If you write for yourself, then why don't you just keep it under the bed,' so I definitely write for other people.

Everything I publish is for my readers.

I really write for people.

I think it's a very bad idea for someone to start writing for a readership.

I write what I'd like to read and just hope that, along the way, others might like to read them, too.

When I'm writing, I don't really have much other guide than, 'As a reader, how would I respond to this?'

I can't control what a reader takes from a story.

It's so easy, as a writer, to get stuck in your own head, to live in the little worlds you create. To forget that there are people out there reading your work, people who may be deeply affected by what you do, that you are writing not just for yourself, but for them.

The first book you write because of the way it makes you feel. The second one you can't help but wonder how it's going to make the reader feel.

Of course, you always think about how it will be read. I always aim for a reading in one sitting.

The novelist in me is probably hiding behind all the stories I write, looking for ways to connect them and continue the conversation with readers. Maybe I'm writing one long narrative, and each book, however different from the last, is just a chapter.

We're not keen on the idea of the story sharing its valence with the reader. But the reader's own life 'outside' the story changes the story.

I've never set out to seduce my reader. I don't see him at all clearly.

Different authors write different ways, have different relationships with their audiences, and those are all legitimate.

My relationship with my readers is somewhat theatrical. One of the main things I try to do in my work is delight my readers.

I think all writers are mainly writing for themselves because I believe that most writers are writing based on a need to write. But at the same time, I feel that writers are, of course, writing for their readers, too.

Many fiction writers write for the critics or for themselves; they forget the common reader. I never do. I don't think journalism clashes with my fiction; on the contrary, it helps enormously.

I think that as I continue to write, my writing I hope will become more controversial and more provocative.

In the end, my reasons for moving down the timeline and introducing a new cast have more to do with keeping myself entertained, on the assumption that if I get bored, my readers are going to be even more bored.

I write what's given me to write.

I'm a very good storyteller; I have a lot of compassion for people. That's very useful for a novelist. A lot of novelists are snots. They're just mean people. I'm not a terribly skilled stylist, nor do I want to be. I want a lot of people to read one of my stories and go, 'That was pretty cool.'

There are many people who say, 'I write for myself.' I think that if you write and publish, then you write for your readers, not just for yourself. Many writers say that they write to be loved. I place myself among those writers.

As a reader, I have a very short attention span and a low tolerance for boredom, and I find that comes in handy with my writing. If I get bored writing something, I pity the people who will then try to read it.

You write for two people, yourself and your audience, who are usually better educated and at least as smart.

A very wise author once said that a writer writes for himself, and then publishes for money. I write for myself and publish just for the reader.