Quotes from Daniel Woodrell

James Agee and Flannery O'Connor have impacted on me hardest

Woodrell is the least-known major writer in the country right now." —Dennis Lehane, USA Today

Nobody here wants to be awful," he said. He hopped a little as he zipped up. "It's just nobody here knows all the rules yet, and that makes a rocky time.

I rise near dawn, make a strong cup of coffee, wander to my desk and come fully awake by reading something written the day before.

When poetry is on the money, 12 words can slay you. I admire that greatly.

I'm always writing about character first. Plot, such as it is, comes from the characters.

I liked my fellow Marines. I didn't like pointless orders.

I felt like a number of things in me as a writer just clicked.

You want to hear an agent scream, say, 'I'm thinking about doing a collection of short stories set in the Ozarks.'

As a high-school drop-out, I knew I wanted to write, but I wasn't overly confident that I was going to be writing anything serious. I was happy enough with the idea that I could be a penny-a-word guy and survive.

I'm surviving and developing as a writer. I don't know what brings you to mass attention in terms of sales. But I've gotten more and more comfortable with it. Of course if that changes, I'll be comfortable with that. All I can do is write the best books I can.

There's an overlap between social-realist fiction and crime fiction - a sweet spot there.

Just because it's got a gun doesn't make it a crime novel, and just because there's a horse doesn't make it a western.

It's called 'The Outlaw Album,' not 'The Ozarks Album.' These are stories that delve into different kinds of outlawry, from criminal acts to interior, or psychological, outlawry. The book is not meant to be a tapestry of the Ozarks.

I came back when I'd had a taste of other places and realized that I would never feel the same sense of connection to any place other than the Ozarks.

I have a Ford Taurus, and I don't care who knows it.

I always loved the verve and vivacity of pulp and I kind of merged it with my own interest in family stories.

I'd just lie around all day. It's the chemo, the poison they pump into you. Sometimes I'd be walking across the room and think, 'There it is; I got to rest.' And I had to, right then.

I don't think I can write a book as nihilistic as some of my early ones. They're so bleak. I don't think I would enjoy that as much anymore. You really become fixated on ways out.

Texas humor and Southern humor are pretty similar.

I joined the Marines the week I turned 17, and that led to a few experiences that might qualify as adventure - eye of the beholder.

I was basically raised to look for chances to get even with several families for stuff that happened 30 or 40 years before I was born.

I realized there might be monetary or financial reasons to jump in and write a 'Winter's Bone Retriumphs' or something, and nobody would object to me doing that in publishing. But it would be a waste of my time, and they always take a little longer than you thought they would take.

I've bumped into at least three people in town who all insist 'Winter's Bone' is about them.