The Charlottesville Daily Progress 8 May 1957

Hard, Fast Rule For Writers: Truthfulness, William Faulkner Tells High School Students

Novelist William Faulkner told prospective journalists and writers at Albemarle High School this morning that the one "hard and fast rule" every writer must follow is truthfulness.

"I will never put on paper and release something that I do not believe is true," the Nobel Prize winner in literature said.

Faulkner spoke to two groups of about 60 to 80 students each at the high school's annual Careers Day program. The program brought representatives of about 30 fields to speak to the students.

Asked what the most important things to a journalist are, Faulkner said "Take it you have the grounding in grammar, what you need is the practice in people."

He said students should train themselves into "insight into people, to know why people do what they do," and "To catch people in action at the interesting point."

"People are capable of infinite change. That's what makes anyone want to be a journalist or writer, to write about people, because of the infinite variety," Faulkner said.

"Don't ever get over being curious, wanting to know what you didn't know yesterday," the novelist warned his audience. He listed things important for a writer as "never to judge people, to listen, to watch, to probe, wonder what is the truth behind this action . . . patience, compassion." He later added "one quality a writer has got to have is a demon. He's got to be demon-driven."

Worked in New Orleans

Faulkner said he had done newspaper work in New Orleans in his earlier writing days, but never with the intention of taking up journalism as a profession.

Asked how he got into newspaper work, Faulkner said "I like to write, and I lived in the French quarter there, and I would see strange things. . .and I began to write those pieces, and I sent them to the editor."

Other Commentary

Other Faulkner commentary:

On his education: "I didn't like school and I quit in the sixth grade. School in those days moved too slow for me . . . and I would have liked to have gone to a good college."

On style: "Any writer who has a lot to say, hasn't got time to bother with style."

On his own long sentence structure: It "comes from the constant sense that one has that he only has a short time before he is going to die."

On his own opinion of his best novel: "The Sound and the Fury" caused him "the most anguish and trouble" and was "the most beautiful failure."

On life: "It's best always to have something a little beyond our reach to work for; then you can always be happy."

©1957 The Daily Progress