Top 182 Quotes & Sayings by Karin Slaughter
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American writer Karin Slaughter.
Last updated on September 18, 2024.
My job isn't to preach to people, it's to entertain them. I like letting the characters speak for themselves.
It sounds pretentious to say I 'divide' my time, but when I am home, that usually means my house in Atlanta or my cabin in the North Georgia Mountains. The latter is where I do the majority of my writing.
I read a lot of true crime growing up - 'The Stranger Beside Me' by Ann Rule about Ted Bundy.
I read extensively about serial killers and all sorts of things people get up to.
With 'Pretty Girls,' I saw the opportunity to talk not just about crime but what crime leaves behind.
Reading develops cognitive skills. It trains our minds to think critically and to question what you are told. This is why dictators censor or ban books. It's why it was illegal to teach slaves to read. It's why girls in developing countries have acid thrown in their faces when they walk to school.
I could type in a closet and be fine. It's just a matter of cocooning myself. Just me and the story.
It was always my dream to write for a living.
I paid for my name a lot when I was growing up because other kids teased me.
I didn't want to spend the next thirty years writing about bad things happening in the same small town - not least of all because people would begin to wonder why anyone still lives there!
The most enduring stories in literature generally have some kind of crime at their center, whether it's the bloody butchery of 'Hamlet,' the lecherous misanthropes of Dickens or the lone gunman from 'The Great Gatsby.'
When you write as a woman, there's this feeling there's going to be a softness.
I have a lot of men who will say to me, 'I don't read books by women, but I like you.'
Being a Southerner, I'm interested in sex, violence, religion and all the things that make life interesting.
My books are never about the crimes. They are about how the characters react to the crimes.
My sister is dyslexic, and she's so smart, so intelligent in all of the ways that matter.
Like every Southern writer, I thought that I needed to write the next 'Gone With the Wind.'
People forget that writers start off being readers. We all love it when we find a terrific read, and we want to let people know about it.
I think that characters who are nice all the time and who you sympathize with can get really boring.
I never felt isolated; I just liked being alone. I think that some people are good at being alone, and some people aren't, and as a child, I really liked it.
Flannery O'Connor was a revelation for me. When I read her, I was very young, and I didn't understand what she was doing. I didn't see any of the Catholicism or any of the social stuff.
I read about violent things. I think what I get out of that is entertainment by learning about different things, and reading the genre and getting an understanding of motivations. But at the end of the day, it's still a book, and I can walk away.
Prosecutors and public defenders deserve to make a living wage.
Feminism has been so co-opted, but the fact is, feminism benefits men as well.
The familiar trope of the woman in peril doesn't really interest me.
Even if you live in a big city, everybody lives in a small town. We identify ourselves by our neighborhoods - 'I live in the Village, or in Chelsea.'
I'm really boring. I get up early. I go to bed early. I don't smoke or drink. I mean, I'll eat a cupcake. I'm just not a crazy, stay-out-all-night sort of person. I love writing.
I certainly went to high school with some mean girls, and I would not wish that hell on anybody.
As much as we would like to deny it, reading is not vital to human survival.
Everybody had something horrible happen to them at one time or another in their life.
Good writers know that crime is an entre into telling a greater story about character. Good crime writing holds up a mirror to the readers and reflects in a darker light the world in which they live.
My typical morning involves some time on the treadmill, but obviously I skip that a lot. Mostly, I wake up, check my email, then get to work on the various interviews and questions and phone calls that come with being an author.
I've always been drawn to historical fiction.
I know the cadence of the language and the voice of Atlanta because I've lived here for so long.
I'm extremely introverted. I used to think it was shyness, but I got over that, so it must be door No. 2. It's still hard for me to be away from home much, and I have to make sure I get lots of time alone in my room when I'm touring.
I think crime fiction is a great way to talk about social issues, whether 'To Kill A Mockingbird' or 'The Lovely Bones;' violence is a way to open up that information you want to get out to the reader.
When I was growing up, my stepmother's sister was the chief detective in one of the adjoining towns, so she piqued my interest in crime.
Even 'Gone With the Wind' had a shocking, cold-blooded murder.
I set the goal of getting a book contract by age thirty.
Pushing the boundaries of polite society does not just fall under the purview of crime fiction authors.
My dad believed in scaring us as we were growing up. Scaring the boys who wanted to date us more.
I think a lot of people are curious about what makes people do what they do, and I guess my curiosity isn't hidden in any way.
I've always been interested in violence, even as a teenager. I loved 'Helter Skelter' and books like that.
Libraries are the backbone of our education system.
I taped the autopsy photos from Marilyn Monroe's death to my lunch box in fifth grade, and I would write stories in which someone inevitably died.
I love puns. I've been known to turn the car around just to take advantage of a good pun situation. It really is the highest form of humor.
When I was little, my grandmother would take me to church with her, and she would introduce me to people.
When you read a book, you are letting another person distract your thoughts and work your emotions. If they are adept, there's nothing better than turning off and getting lost.
I have a few unusual fans, as you can imagine, so I try to protect the privacy of my home life.
My father and his eight siblings grew up in the kind of poverty that Americans don't like to talk about unless a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina strikes, and then the conversation only lasts as long as the news cycle. His family squatted in shacks. The children scavenged for food.
I can clearly trace my passion for reading back to the Jonesboro, Georgia, library, where, for the first time in my life, I had access to what seemed like an unlimited supply of books.
I always say 'thriller;' if they see you're a woman - and you're a blond woman - people assume you're writing about cats and romances where somebody has died.
When I'm on a good go, I can do 12, 13 hours of writing.
As a Southerner, I love obstacles for my characters.
Prior to the Civil War, most libraries were either privately owned or housed in universities or churches.
Graphic novels let you take risks that just wouldn't fly in the conventional book form.
No matter where you are on the political spectrum, libraries make sense. It's such a small investment. Every dollar supporting a library system returns five dollars to the community.
Books give us insight into other people, other cultures. They make us laugh. They make us think. If they are really good, they make us believe that we are better for having read them. You don't read a book - you experience it. Every story opens up a new world.
Books are not like albums, where you can simply download and enjoy your favorite chapter and ignore the rest.
I think being a woman and writing frankly about violence has gotten me some attention, and as someone who wants people to read my books, I can't complain about that attention, but it does puzzle me that this is something reviewers focus on.
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