October 7th, 2010 / 11:19 am
Craft Notes

Ted Bundy on Writing

“The fantasy that accompanies and generates the anticipation that precedes the crime is always more stimulating than the immediate aftermath of the crime itself.”

“I don’t want to beat around the bush with you anymore. I’m just tired.”

“I’m no social scientist, and I don’t pretend to believe what John Q. Citizen thinks.”

“It was like coming out of some horrible trance or dream. I can only liken it to (and I don’t want to overdramatize it) being possessed by something so awful and alien, and the next morning waking up and remembering what happened and realizing that in the eyes of the law, and certainly in the eyes of God, you’re responsible.”

“I went down the road, throwing everything I had, the briefcase, out the window. Throwing the briefcase, the crutches, the rope, the clothes.”

“You take the individual we are talking about and then you subject him to stress. Stress happens to come randomly, but its effect on the personality is not random; it’s specific. That results in a certain amount of chaos, confusion, and frustration. That person begins to seek out a target for his frustrations. The continued nature of this stress this person was under — the nature of the flaw or weakness in his personality, together with other elements in the environment that offer him a logical target for his frustrations or escapes from reality — yields the situation we’re discussing. There is no trigger, it is truly more sophisticated than that.”

“Possessing them physically as one would possess a potted plant, a painting, or a Porsche. Owning, as it were, this individual.”

“I’m talking about going beyond retribution, which is what people want with me.”

“Countless millions who have walked this earth before us have gone through this, so this is just an experience we all share.”

“I just liked to kill, I wanted to kill.”

“It’s a moment-by-moment thing. Sometimes I feel very tranquil and other times I don’t feel tranquil at all. What’s going through my mind right now is to use the minutes and hours I have left as fruitfully as possible. It helps to live in the moment, in the essence that we use it productively. Right now I’m feeling calm, in large part because I’m here with you.”

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11 Comments

  1. La Petite Zine

      OMG. Love Ted Bundy.

  2. Dan Quinsenberry

      Ted Bundy was a whiny little boy who had out-of-control tantrums because girls didn’t like him. He was a creep. All that eloquence is theatrical, lines he memorized to cover up for the fact that he was nothing more than a useless, soulless perv. I can totally relate.

  3. Blake Butler

      if you can’t relate to ever feeling useless or soulless i’ll probably pass on reading your writing.

  4. M Kitchell

      these are good. they also make me think of something that i will bring up soon (not to be vague, but my mind is totally blanking on names right now)

  5. Dan Quinsenberry

      Read what I wrote again. Read it. What did I say at the end? I said I can totally relate. Maybe the real reason you’ll pass on my writing is because you’re too busy formulating your knee-jerk smart-assisms to see what is in front of you. Good day, sir.

  6. Guest

      i’ve been listening to megadeth for like 4 days straight

  7. Blake Butler

      my bad. after all the moral judgments you began with i assumed you were being sarcastic at the end. my statement is still true, if not applied to you specifically. my knees don’t jerk, i’m still all day. regardless, apology for misinterpret.

  8. JimR

      “The fantasy that accompanies and generates the anticipation that precedes the crime is always more stimulating than the immediate aftermath of the crime itself.”

      True of most things. Writing a novel. Eating nachos. Oceans of porn.

  9. MickeyDaDunce

      I had thought that maybe “serial killer chic” had run its course. Guess I was wrong.
      Would you consider posting some pictures of the women he strangled, or would that just be a buzz-kill?

  10. MickeyDaDunce

      Hey, maybe these guys have some cool thoughts on the creative process you’d like to post. Here’s hoping! http://nyti.ms/d8S1D4

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