Everything has to be pulling weight in a short story for it to be really of the first order.
More Quotes from Tobias Wolff:
But as my brother was doing his research for a book about my father, it became his opinion that the most influential anti-semitism my father encountered when he was growing up was from Jews, because his relatives were German Jews, and doctors.Tobias Wolff
That, for me, is a very important test of a young writer's commitment because most of them are going to have to continue doing that when they've finished the program.
Tobias Wolff
I have to be honest, of course, but I have to be sure that my honesty comes in a form that is not destructive because it can very easily become so.
Tobias Wolff
A novel invites digression and a little relaxation of the grip because a reader can't endure being held that tightly in hand for so long a time.
Tobias Wolff
Like so many writers I started writing stories because I didn't have much time for anything else.
Tobias Wolff
So you're continually searching for new ways of using the story form to most perfectly contain and express the story you're telling.
Tobias Wolff
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Threescore years and ten is enough; if a man can't suffer all the misery he wants in that time, he must be numb.
Josh Billings