Ryan Blacketter > Quotes

“They smoked on the patio. The wind was warm. Snow had gone to slush in the street. Clouds shredded into flying ribbons. Off to the right, the mountain was alive and wild in flashing shadows. A piece of it wavered in sheets of rain with patches of blue sky behind it. But it wasn’t raining in town. Most of the sky was sunny. All the weather in the world had come to the valley.”
― Ryan Blacketter, Down in the River: A Novel

“As the wild mood rose in him, the need for rest would lessen even more in the coming days. All he wanted was to get through the school day and find his way back to the night.”
― Ryan Blacketter

“Don't write victim stories unless you are a writer of erotica." This isn't my quote, though it was on Goodreads briefly, attributed to me, and is now a meme.”
― Ryan Blacketter

“I’m different now. Something happened in me. I don’t know what it is. But something did. I won’t take any more speed. I’m done throwing rocks. I don’t blame anybody. Not you or anybody else. I want to care about people.”
― Ryan Blacketter, Down in the River

“The life of the mind is inappropriate in America now. Don't ever say anything unusual--unless the organization has approved it beforehand. Follow the rules. Be afraid. Be careful. Be a very good boy or girl.”
― Ryan Blacketter

“I work two to three hours, and I feel like it’s more efficient,” he says. “I’m not so intense about it. I just go up to my writing desk and think about the words and wait for it. It’s more mellow, not all that ‘whip myself into a painful state’ stuff.”
― Ryan Blacketter

“Stories that are truly successful are the ones where the protagonist is the bad, dirty one. The human story is a fairly dark one with painful and dangerous impulses that we all have. And that's coupled with a fortress-like psychology that most people have, protecting them from the awareness of the fact that they are part of this human experience”
― Ryan Blacketter

“Levi’s Café stood in a city block of pines–just that one, small lighted building in the center of the grove. As Lyle went into the trees, the café windows were yellow stains that in the wind and rain seemed to darken and then flicker on. Instead of going in, he lingered under his umbrella. The motorcycle club gathered here each evening at five. But Lyle had offended one of the boys, Devon, who was tall and drove a Triumph and liked heavy wool sweaters–girls favored him–and he supposed they would not invite him to join now, despite his new clothing.”
― Ryan Blacketter, Down in the River

“Thanks to my editor Gregory Wolfe for supplying quotes.”
― Ryan Blacketter

“There was nothing but dust on display in the windows. The spotlight beam flashed again in the sky, then vanished and appeared, seeming to speed up with the approach of midnight. He was pointed toward the apartment, but he still had plenty of wildness in him to throw at the night.”
― Ryan Blacketter, Down in the River