Everyone thinks writers must know more about the inside of the human head, but that's wrong. They know less, that's why they write. Trying to find out what everyone else takes for granted.
Interpretation
Writers often explore human thoughts and emotions because they seek to understand what is often taken for granted.
Margaret Atwood suggests that writers may not possess a deeper understanding of human nature than others; rather, they are curious individuals who probe into the complexities of the human psyche. This pursuit of understanding leads them to question and explore what many people take for granted, using writing as a tool to uncover these insights.
In practice
In a literary discussion about the nature of writing and creativity, this quote highlights the unique perspective of writers.
If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go; but it’s not easy being quiet and good, it’s like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you’ve already fallen over; you don’t seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.
I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.
What else can I do? Once you've gone this far you aren't fit for anything else. Something happens to your mind. You're overqualified, overspecialized, and everybody knows it. Nobody in any other game would be crazy enough to hire me. I wouldn't even make a good ditch-digger, I'd start tearing apart the sewer-system, trying to pick-axe and unearth all those chthonic symbols - pipes, valves, cloacal conduits... No, no. I'll have to be a slave in the paper-mines for all time.
We love each other, that’s true whatever it means, but we aren’t good at it; for some it’s a talent, for others only an addiction.
I've learned quite a lot, over the years, by avoiding what I was supposed to be learning.
Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.
I find that when I write, I need things to be quiet, but when I design, I can't bear it if it's quiet.
I loved writing a book in which, in some ways, it's very, very classical, and in some ways I'm breaking lots of rules about what you can do and what you can't do.
A sight to dream of, not to tell!
The effect of sincerity is to give one's work the character of a protest. The painter, being concerned only with conveying his impression, simply seeks to be himself and no one else.
The more I photograph women, the less it is about transformation. Women are beautiful. All that really matters is enhancing that.
I gave my hero a talent I'd love to have. Who wouldn't want to fly?
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