115 Quotes by Alice McDermott

I'm a novelist. I'm not a crusader, and I'm not an editorial writer. And I'm not writing fiction to convince anybody of anything.

I know Irish-American people. I know what their homes look like. I know what they have for dinner. I know how they turn a phrase.

In the act of reading, especially reading fiction, where a world is being created, all kinds of matters of belief come into play.

I read a little bit of nonfiction and a lot of poetry. I think of poetry as my shot of whiskey when I don't have time to savor a whole bottle of wine.

Being Irish-American myself, Irish-American material is readily at hand to me.

Character is primary. What happens as far as plot and events is not as intriguing to me as what's happening inside this particular person.

I am not a theologian or a historian, and I feel no call to become a defender of the faith, so in my case, the search for what remains valuable focuses on language itself: Catholic prayer, ritual, the naming of things.

I don't want to write about violence, and I don't want to hang a plot on a murder. I think it's cheap.

I do have friends in Pittsburgh, and I had some wonderful experiences there.