Richard Russo (born July 15, 1949) is an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and teacher. Read full biography of Richard Russo →
Structure is one of the things that I always hope will reveal itself to me.
The deepest failures any fiction writer is likely to have are failures of not quite comprehending the truth of the story that he or she is telling.
Usually by the time I finish a book tour I've just about had it with the book.
You use simple brushstrokes in a screenplay for things over which you would take much greater pains in a novel.
You just kind of have faith. If that sounds kind of mystical, it's because I really don't know how it works, but I trust that it does. I try... →
My books are elegiac in the sense that they're odes to a nation that even I sometimes think may not exist anymore except in my memory and my... →
My dad had this rock hard body and would work 12- to 13-hour days. The guys he worked with were scrap-iron guys. Nobody on that road crew had read a... →
Some authors have a very hard time understanding that in order to be faithful to the spirit of the book, it's almost always impossible to remain... →
Truth be told, I'm not an easy man. I can be an entertaining one, though it's been my experience that most people don't want to be... →
What does it feel like to be a parent? What does it feel like to be a child? And that's what stories do. They bring you there. They offer a... →
When authors who write literary fiction begin to write screenplays, everybody assumes that's the end. Here's another who's never going to... →
When I look back over my novels what I find is that when I think I'm finished with a theme, I'm generally not. And usually themes will recur... →
You can be interested in a Jane Smiley novel whether or not anyone says a word. She enters into her characters' thoughts with great understanding... →