Literary Birthday – 10 March – John Rechy

Happy Birthday, John Rechy, born on 10 March 1931.

John Rechy Quotes

1. An early admirer of my work labeled me “an accidental writer”—the kind who writes randomly, off the stop of his head, the way Kerouac is reputed to have done. But that’s not true of me. I’m a very conscious writer, attentive to the right word, even the lengths of sentences, and punctuation for effect. At times, I want to create an opposite impression, say, a looser prose, but that, too, is done consciously. (The Atlantic)
2. I’ve never written a book for which I have not gone through at least 10 complete drafts, 10, from page one to the end. The first draft is much less controlled. Through subsequent drafts, I begin to retain a definite structure. In the early drafts, you may locate unexpected signals to yourself; you’re exploring new territory. I’ve drawn maps of the journeys that a character is taking, along a street, say, or a city. I write straight through on a first draft, not reading what I’ve written until I begin the first revision, noting discoveries. (The Atlantic)
3. The origin of a book is mysterious, and sometimes you don’t even recognize when it’s born. (The Atlantic)
4. That’s what great fiction does, I think: A writer uses narrative to ask a question more clearly than it has ever been asked before. When a question is asked perfectly, it doesn’t need a tidy answer. To discover the precise shape of what the mystery is: That can be enough. (The Atlantic)
5. Good writing involves “showing“–that is, dramatizing–as well as “telling“–that is, employing exposition. An avoidance of “telling” may convolute and interfere with providing clear motivation (to be exemplified by “showing”). It disallows setting. It obfuscates situation. (John Rechy Website)
6. Many great works of art would be cancelled if the author had restricted himself to what he “knows.”… A better admonition might be: Write about what you feel. Too lofty. Write about what you feel you know. Too elevated. This is it: Write about whatever the hell you want to write about. (John Rechy Website)
7. Despicable, awful, frightening, wicked–but fascinating. That’s the key: Fascinating. Write about characters, good or evil, who fascinate. (John Rechy Website)

John Rechy is is a Mexican-American novelist and essayist. His semi-autobiographical works explore the worlds of sexual and social outsiders and occasionally draw on his Mexican American heritage. His novels are mainly about gay culture in Los Angeles and wider America. His debut novel, City Of Night, was a bestseller. It is about a young man working as a homosexual hustler who makes his way to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Many of his writings for various publications were anthologized in his 2004 publication Beneath the Skin. He also wrote a memoir titled About My Life and the Kept Woman, and three plays. He has taught creative writing at Occidental College, the University of Southern California, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has received many awards, including PEN Center USA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the William Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Source for image: Grove Atlantic

by Amanda Patterson

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