When You're Interviewing Someone, Even Your Mother - You Have To Sort Of Deal With You Have To Get Some Objective Space From Yourself And The Person But You Also Have To Find What's The Best Way To Get The Information From That Person.

-James McBride

Please Wait....
Translating....

When You're Interviewing Someone,

James McBride

Topic

Mother

Space

Information

More From James McBride

I Wish All Critics, No Matter Their Color, Were More Sophisticated When It Comes To The Moral Questions A Film Like 'st. Anna' Is Trying To Raise.

Color

Trying

Wish

I'm Trying To Educate People About Things That I Believe Are Right, And Some Of The Things That I Believe Are Right Might Not Be Right, So I Live In Constant Self-doubt. I Think That Creates A Kind Of Search That You Have To Have, And It Prevents You From Doing A Lot Of Stuff That You Would Normally Do.

Believe

Thinking

Self

So Sweet And Precious Is Family Life.

Sweet

Family Life

What Humor Allows You To Do Is To Let The Past Go With Less Pain. It's A Healing Element. It Releases Some Of The Pain From The Shotgun Wound.

Pain

Healing

Past

It's A Real Stumper To Sit Around And Try To Think In Your Own Head, But When You Go Into Somebody Else's Head That Takes The Foot Off The Breaks. You Can Think In Someone Else's Head.

Real

Thinking

Trying

I'd Like To Do Something Involving Jazz. But Books Are How I Earn My Living, And I'd Like To Stay With The Horse I Rode In On.

Horse

Book

Jazz

The Good Lord Bird Don't Run In A Flock. He Flies Alone. You Know Why? He's Searching. Looking For The Right Tree. And When He Sees That Tree, That Dead Tree That's Taking All The Nutrition And Good Things From The Forest Floor. He Goes Out And He Gnaws At It, And He Gnaws At It Till The Thing Gets Tired And It Falls Down. And The Dirt From It Raises Other Trees. It Gives Them Good Things To Eat. It Makes 'em Strong. Gives 'em Life. And The Circle Goes 'round.

Running

Strong

Fall

You Know What Needs To Be Done When You're A Writer. You Know What The Job Is, Particularly If You're An African American Writer, Or If You Deal With People, Or If Your Subjects Are Poor People Or People Who Need Voice. So You Don't Really Need To Know Whether Or Not You Are Doing The Right Thing. What You Have To Be Wary Of If You're Doing The Right Thing To The Right Level That Will Surpass Your Own Life. I'm Hoping That My Work Will Surpass My Own Life.

Jobs

Voice

People

First Person Narrative Is A Very Effective Tool But You Have To Know As A Writer How To Make It Work.

Narrative

Firsts

Tools

There Are Some Really Great Books That Have Been Written About Slavery, But I Don't Think That The Discourse About It In Society Has Been Very Accurate Or Healthy. I Don't Think We've Come Up With Ways To Tell It That Don't Insult People Or Hit Them In The Wrong Way. Part Of The Problem Is That Most People Don't Really Understand What Slavery Was Anyway. Most White People Didn't Own Slaves. Slavery Was A Way Of Life, Just Like Driving Cars Is A Way Of Life Now. It Doesn't Mean That It Was Right.

Book

Mean

Thinking

My Family Is My Career.

Careers

My Family

I Grew Up In The Church, And So I Feel That God Gave Me Certain Things To Do, And I'm Lucky Enough To Kind Of Have Figured Those Things Out. I Just Don't Want To Die Not Having Tried To Help Somebody Else With What I Know.

Church

Lucky

Want

The Man Was The Finest Preacher. He Could Make A Frog Stand Up Straight And Get Happy With Jesus.

Jesus

Men

Frogs

The Basic Thing Is To Be Humble, And Pretend You're A Bartender In The Tavern Of Life. Don't Get Too Comfortable And Don't Really Listen To Anybody Else. Don't Stand Around With A Bunch Of Writers And Talk About Writing. You Know When You See Plumbers At A Plumbers Convention, Usually They're Not Talking About Plumbing: They're Talking About Whatever It Is That Two Men Happen To Talk About. They're Talking About Sports, Their Wives And Children. I Just Tell My Students, Don't Talk About Writing Too Much, Just Go Out And Do It. Find Out Whatever You Need To Get To The Mainland.

Sports

Children

Writing

It Was Always So Hot, And Everyone Was So Polite, And Everything Was All Surface But Underneath It Was Like A Bomb Waiting To Go Off. I Always Felt That Way About The South, That Beneath The Smiles And Southern Hospitality And Politeness Were A Lot Of Guns And Liquor And Secrets.

Gun

Waiting

Southern

I'm One Of The Few Black Writers, Or African American Writers, Who Managed To Work My Way Through The System So That It Has Allowed Me To Speak In A Kind Of Free Way. But Most African American Writers Don't Have That. They Don't Have That Opportunity, They Don't Have That.

Opportunity

African American

Black

There Has To Be Some Mystery In Life, Because The Joy Of Being A Writer And The Joy Of Being A Musician Is The Joy Of Discovery. I Don't Want Someone Discovering For Me What I Should Be Discovering On My Own. If A Person Is Discovering For Me, Then They're Living For Me. It's My Responsibility, Indeed It's My Privilege, To Go Out And Discover The World For Myself.

Responsibility

Joy

Musician

The Thing That I Do Is That When I Fail, I Just Keep Quiet About It. I Just Let It Go. It's Done. I Just Go To The Next Thing. I Don't Complain, I Don't Go To - I Pick My Battles Very, Very Judiciously, And I Just Assume That There's Good In The Heart Of Everybody.

Heart

Let It Go

Battle

Slavery Was A Web Of Relationships, And If People Knew How Thick The Whole Business Was, They Would Not Make Fun Of People Like Harriet Tubman. They Would Understand How Intelligent She Was And How Sharp.

Fun

Intelligent

People

There Are Two Responses To Really Awful Things. One Is To Lament And Say, "oh My God, Oh Lord." And The Other Is To Laugh At It A Little Bit, Try Your Best To Deal With It And, If You Can, Forget About It As Soon As Possible.

Laughing

Trying

Forget

...since I Was A Little Boy, She Had Always Wanted Me To Go. She Was Always Sending Me Off On A Bus Someplace, To Elementary School, To Camp, To Relatives In Kentucky, To College. She Pushed Me Away From Her Just As She'd Pushed My Elder Siblings Away When We Lived In New York, Literally Shoving Them Out The Front Door When They Left For College.

New York

Sibling

School

Newt Gingrich Wrote A Novel, And He's A Short Story. Bill Clinton Wrote A Biography, And He's A Novel.

Biographies

Bills

Stories

Educate Yourself Or You'll Be A Nobody!

Educate

As A Journalist, I Never Critiqued Anyone. I Never Review Books. I've Never Felt Qualified As A Musician To Say Whether Someone Is A Good Musician Or A Bad Musician. What Happens With Black Writers And Black Artists Is That If You're Critiqued, For Example, By A Black Historian Who Wants To Get His Name On The Cover Of "the New York Times," And He Says Something, Like, Wacky, Well, He'll Get His Name On The Cover Of "the New York Times" And He Might Get Tenure, And Your Career Suffers.

New York

Book

Artist

I'm Proud Of 'miracle At St. Anna' And I Loved It; There's No Question In My Mind It's As Good As Any Movie That Came Out In 2007.

Miracle

Mind

Proud

God Gived You The Seed. But The Watering And Caring Of That Seed Is Up To You.

Caring

Up To You

Seeds

Family Is The Last And Greatest Discovery. It Is Our Last Miracle.

Family

Discovery

Miracle

Testosterone Is A Sex Hormone, And I Think It Is The Most Social Of Hormones. The Major Social Effect Of Testosterone Is To Orient Us Toward Issues Of Sex And Power. By The End Of Puberty Testosterone Levels In Males Are 8 To 10 Times Higher Than In Females, But Decrease With Age.

Sex

Thinking

Issues

Writing For Me Is Cutting Out The Fat And Getting To The Meaning.

Writing

Cutting

Fats

Put Yourself In God’s Hands And You Can’t Go Wrong.

Hands

I Could Have Been, And May One Day Well Be A High School English Teacher, Because I've Been Given So Much I Just Feel Like I Have To Give Something Back. The Fact That Some People Consider My Work To Be Good Or Strong, It's Nice, But I Know In My Heart That If It's Not Coming - Oftentimes It's Probably Not Coming From The Best Place.

Teacher

Strong

Nice

God Is The Color Of Water. Water Doesn't Have A Color.

If You Have The Material It Will Form Itself As A Kind Of Connective Tissue.

Tissues

Kind

Form

There's Such A Big Difference Between Being Dead And Alive, I Told Myself, The Greatest Gift That Anyone Can Give Anyone Else Is Life. And The Greatest Sin A Person Can Do To Another Is To Take Away That Life. Next To That, All The Rules And Religions In The World Are Secondary; Mere Words And Beliefs That People Choose To Believe And Kill And Hate By. My Life Won't Be Lived That Way, And Neither, I Hope, Will My Children's.

Children

Hate

Believe

Some Things In This World Just Ain't Meant To Be, Not In The Times We Want 'em To, And The Heart Has To Hold It In This World As A Remembrance, A Promise For The World That's To Come. There's A Prize At The End Of All Of It, But Still, That's A Heavy Load To Bear.

Heart

Remembrance

Promise

People Don't Realize You're Blowing Over Changes, Time Changes, Harmony, Different Keys. I Mark A Point In My Solo Where It's Got To Peak At Point D I Go To A, B, C D Then I'm Home.

Home

Keys

People

As A Journalist, The Details Always Tell The Story.

Details

Stories

Journalist

My Whole Family Was - We Grew Up In New York, But All My Relatives And All My Father And Stepfather's Family, They Were All From The South. So I Like That Old Black Voice, And I Love The Sort Of Old Black Man With A Corncob Pipe, Sitting There Telling A Whopper.

New York

Father

Men

It Is Hard To Find Romance In The Present Because There's Nothing Left To The Imagination.

Imagination

Romance

I Asked Her If I Was Black Or White. She Replied "you Are A Human Being. Educate Yourself Or You'll Be A Nobody!

White

Black

Educate

I Think A Lot Of The History We've Read Up To This Point, Some Of It Is Just Off. It's Written With The Same Prejudice That Certain Networks Have When They Report The News Of The Day.

Thinking

Prejudice

News

It's The Same Old Story. Nothing In This World Happens Unless White Folks Says It Happens. And Therein Lies The Problem Of Being A Professional Black Storyteller - Writer, Musician, Filmmaker.

Lying

White

Black

The Black Church Will Accept Anybody.

Black

Church

Accepting

The Act Of Choosing What To Place In Your Piece When You're A Historian Or A Non-fiction Writer Already Renders It Into Fiction For Someone Else. In Some Ways Fiction Comes A Lot Closer To Reality. When You Start Talking About Something As Brutal As Slavery And Life In The American West, It's Really Important To Take A Non- Judgmental Stance. We Romanticize A Great Deal About Life In The American West, But I Thank God I Wasn't Living During That Time. No Matter What Color You Were, It Was Rough, Crude, Tough Living.

Reality

Important

Thank God

I'm A Better Musician Now, And I Rarely Practice Because Age Has Taught Me The Value Of Economy. And I Think I'm A Better Writer Now Because I Don't Waste As Much Time, Dilly-dallying And Sassafrassin' And Sloop And Sloppin' And Frying Eggs. When You Start Writing, Half The Time You're Just Saying Howdy To The Page. My Process Now Is A Little More Lean And Muscular. I Don't Waste A Lot Of Time. When I Had Kids, I Learned How Much Time I Had Before, And How Much Time You Actually Need To Do Something. If You Don't Have Time, You'll Just Do It And Get It Done.

Writing

Kids

Thinking

But At The End Of The Day, There Are Some Questions That Have No Answers, And Then One Answer That Has No Question: Love Rules The Game. Every Time. All The Time. That’s What Counts.

Games

The End Of The Day

Answers

I Can Write Anywhere Really. I Have A Hard Time Writing When The Birds Are Tweeting And The Brooks Are Running Outside. I've Tried That Several Times, For Months At A Time, Trying To Write In A Quiet, Wonderful Place Where Birds Are Twittering And Coffee's Brewing. And Nothing Happens. But If I'm In An Old Dump Like My Old Apartment And I Can't Find My Fingernail Clippers And Nothing's Working Except The Old Tea Maker, That's Just Great. You Always Have To Find And Live In A Place That's A Little Uncomfortable When You're A Writer. You Need A Burr In Your Side.

Running

Writing

Hard Times

You Have To Choose Between What The World Expects Of You And What You Want For Yourself.

World

Want

What You Want

I Felt Like A Tinker Toy Kid Building My Own Self Out Of One Of Those Toy Building Sets; For As She Laid Her Life Before Me, I Reassembled The Tableau Of Her Words Like A Picture Puzzle, And As I Did, So My Own Life Was Rebuilt.

Kids

Self

Toys

My Black Friends Never Asked Me How Much Money I Made, Or What School My Children Went To, Or Anything Like That. They Just Said, "come As You Are."

Friends

Children

School

The Question Of Religion In Black America Is Something Filmmakers Don't Want To Touch.

America

Black

Want

I'm Not Interested In Food. It's Just Fuel.

Fuel

Not Interested

Until You Expose The Cancer, You Can't Fix It.

Cancer

If You're A Creative Person, You'd Better Not Read What People Write About You, Because If It's Good It'll Blow Your Head Up And It'll Force You Not To Take The Subway And You'll Start Taking Cabs, And You'd Better Stay Around People, And If It's Bad, It Just Hurts Your Feelings So Much It Discourages You.

Hurt

Writing

Blow

I Come To The Understanding That Maybe What Was On The Inside Was More Important, And That Your Outer Covering Didn't Count So Much As Folks Thought It Did, Colored Or White, Man Or Woman.

Men

White Man

Understanding

I Just Read History Books. I Read Nothing But History Books. They Have So Much To Give; I Wish I'd Majored In History In College.

Book

College

Giving

Be Kind To The Living.

Be Kind

Kind

I Put Headlights In Ford Vans. I Still Drive A Ford.

Vans

Headlights

Stills

But What Difference Does It Make? ... When You're Mixed, You See How Absurd This Business Of Race Is.

Race

Differences

Doe

Sometimes It Seemed Like The Truth Was A Bandy-legged Soul Who Dashed From One Side Of The World To The Other And I Could Never Find Him.

Soul

World

Sides

When You Walk The Significant Land, The Land Speaks To You - Even If It's 150 Years Later. You Walk The Earth And Good Things Happen. There's Always Something To Be Said For Going To A Spot, Even If There's Nothing There. That's Why You Have A Brain, Your Mind Moves To Other Places When You're Standing At An Important Spot.

Moving

Brain

Mind

My Parents Were Nonmaterialistic. They Believed That Money Without Knowledge Was Worthless, That Education Tempered With Religion Was The Way To Climb Out Of Poverty In America, And Over The Years They Were Proven Right.

Years

America

Parent

If You're Going To Cheat And Take People's History And You're Not Writing The Bible, You Ain't Really So Great. But If You Try To Do It In A Way That Doesn't Hurt Too Many People, Then You Probably Can Get Out Of Bed In The Morning And Look At Yourself In The Mirror.

Hurt

Morning

Writing

You're Not A Black Man. You're A Human Being In God's Eyes. So When You Sit Down To Talk To Someone And You Talk To Them In Really Intelligent Terms, You Ask Difficult Questions, There's A Militancy That's Assigned To You Without You Asking For It, Because You Are Simply Judged By What You Look Like. If You're A White Person Asking The Same Questions, You'd Be One Of These Cnn Guys And Say How Brilliant He Is. That Doesn't Work For You, Because This Is The World We Live In.

Eye

Intelligent

Men

Music And Writing Do Fold Together In The Sense That You Have To Have A Certain Level Of Skill In Order To Execute Your Ideas And You Need A Medium. The Idea Of Improvisation Is One That Many Writers Fall Into, And I Improvise A Great Deal When I'm Writing, But There's A Structural Framework That I'm Working Around, And That Takes More Time Than The Actual Writing. Once The Characters Get To Yapping And Talking, They'll Move From One Room To The Next, And I Just Have To Make Sure That The House Is Built. That's Really Hard, That's The Kind Of Thing That Sits With You All Day Long.

Moving

Fall

Character

I Think Comedy Allows People To Accept The More Difficult Parts Of History. And History, If It's Presented Wrong, Is Just Very Depressing, Particularly The History Of Slavery. If Slavery Is Presented Properly, It's A Great Story. But I Think That Within The Commercial World Of Storytelling In Which I Live, There Haven't Been Many Strong Works That Discuss Slavery In Ways That Are Palatable And Funny And Interesting To The Reader.

Depressing

Strong

Thinking

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

Trending Author