E. L. Doctorow - Book Quotes

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Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.

E. L. Doctorow

I don't want a style. This was something that I was trying to explain earlier, that I want the book to invent itself. I think that the minute a writer knows what his style is, he's finished. Because then you see your own limits, and you hear your own voice in your head. At that point you might as well close up shop.

E. L. Doctorow

One of my children once said — it was a terrible truth, too, and, of course, it had to be a young child who said this — "Dad is always hiding in his book."

E. L. Doctorow

When you see a manuscript as an editor…you're at ease in the book the way a surgeon is at ease in a human chest, with all the blood and the guts and everything. You're familiar with the material and you can toss it around and say dirty things to the nurse.

E. L. Doctorow