Writing Quotes by Geoff Dyer

Geoff Dyer

Beware of clichés. Not just the clichés that Martin Amis is at war with. There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation and of thought – even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are clichés of form which conform to clichés of expectation.

Expression

War

Writing

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Geoff Dyer

For so long I didn’t have any kind of readership at all – I’d get published, but not read – the idea of writing for an audience is so anathema to me, it’s never bothered me.

Kind

Long

Writing

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Geoff Dyer

Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it’s a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It’s only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other. I always have to feel that I’m bunking off from something.

Book

Ideas

Writing

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Geoff Dyer

Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire.

Desire

Regret

Writing

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Geoff Dyer

I always hope to come up with a style of writing that’s appropriate to the material and I felt like this was. And then there’s plenty of – I don’t know if it’s the right word but – lampooning, but it’s always at my expense.

Plenty

Style

Writing

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Geoff Dyer

I would hope that nothing that I write would ever seem earnest because I subscribe absolutely to Franz Nietzsche’s claim when he says, “Ah, earnestness, the sure sign of a slow mind.” Earnest people are always a bit on the thick side in my experience.

Mind

People

Writing

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Geoff Dyer

I’m so revolted by writers taking themselves seriously that, as a kind of protest, I’ve deprioritized the role of writing in my life. I do it when I’ve not got anything better to do – and even then I often do nothing instead.

Kind

Roles

Writing

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Geoff Dyer

In my 30s I used to go to the gym even though I hated it. The purpose of going to the gym was to postpone the day when I would stop going. That’s what writing is to me: a way of postponing the day when I won’t do it any more, the day when I will sink into a depression so profound it will be indistinguishable from perfect bliss.

Perfect

Profound

Writing

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Geoff Dyer

The process of book writing for me is entirely one of trial and error.

Book

Errors

Writing

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Geoff Dyer

When you are lonely, writing can keep you company. It is also a form of self-compensation, a way of making up for things—as opposed to making things up—that did not quite happen.

Lonely

Self

Writing

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