I can never drive my car over a bridge without thinking of suicide. I can never look at a lake or an ocean without thinking of suicide.
Charles BukowskiRead
My writing is jagged and harsh, I want it to remain that way; I don't want it smoothed out.
Interpretation
Bukowski prefers his writing to be raw and unrefined, reflecting authenticity.
This quote by Charles Bukowski emphasizes the importance of authenticity in art and writing. He expresses a desire for his work to retain its inherent jaggedness, suggesting that a lack of polish allows deeper truths to emerge, and that the rough edges of one's expression can be more genuine and impactful than a smooth but artificial presentation.
In practice
In a workshop on creative writing, one might quote Bukowski to encourage students to embrace their unique styles.
I can never drive my car over a bridge without thinking of suicide. I can never look at a lake or an ocean without thinking of suicide.
when I am feeling low all i have to do is watch my cats and my courage returns
The masses are always wrong...Wisdom is doing everything the crowd does not do. All you do is reverse the totality of their learning and you have the heaven they're looking for.
I'm going to open another vottle. not a vottle, but a bottle. you open it and I'll drink it. and you try to write as much as I did without falling off of your chair.
To experience real agony is something hard to write about, impossible to understand while it grips you; you're frightened out of your wits, canβt sit still, move, or even go decently insane.
I lapsed into my pathetic cut-off period. Often with humans, both good and bad, my senses simply shut off, they get tired, I give up. I am polite. I nod. I pretend to understand because I donβt want anybody to be hurt. That is the one weakness that has lead me into the most trouble. Trying to be kind to others I often get my soul shredded into a kind of spiritual pasta. No matter. My brain shuts off. I listen. I respond. And they are too dumb to know that I am not there.
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
The only real elegance is in the mind; if you've got that, the rest really comes from it.
Music at times is more like perfume than mathematics.
I often will write a scene from three different points of view to find out which has the most tension and which way I'm able to conceal the information I'm trying to conceal. And that is, at the end of the day, what writing suspense is all about.
Designers don't live in a vacuum; they are not blind to what's going on. They, too, will be inspired by what they see, and that will come out in their work.
I've known since I was five that I wanted to be a writer.
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