Fred Arroyo > Quotes

“Good writing arises out of obsession. With obsession there is emotional depth and a certain weight and gravity to the language and story. Without obsession I would be empty, and, literally, I wonder if I would even have any substance. The body is like a cathedral, and the cathedral needs music and prayer filling its grand spaces. Obsession turning over and over within the body creates music, prayer, substance that, although providing the depth, weight, and gravity I first evoked, also allows for lyricism, lightness, and flight up into the various arches and ellipses of the cathedral. Obsession is filled with slowness—and so obsession in my writing, for good or bad, doesn’t come about because of an immediate intellectual idea or problem, nor a quick flash of inspiration. There’s this slow energy at work, and I begin to become a part of that when I’m very close to silence.”
― Fred Arroyo