“I think writers can get too attached to these worlds they create, these characters they make real, so that, instead of ending the story where the story’s asking to end, they draw it out, unable to let go.” ~ Stephen Graham Jones
“I think writers can get too attached to these worlds they create, these characters they make real, so that, instead of ending the story where the story’s asking to end, they draw it out, unable to let go.” ~ Stephen Graham Jones
“Writers shouldn’t fall in love with their characters so much that they lose sight of what they’re trying to accomplish. The idea is to write a whole story, a whole book. A writer has to be able to look at that story and see whether or not a character works, whether or not a character needs further definition.” ~ Stephen Coonts
“I can’t write a scene unless I’ve visualized it. Unless I can actually see it, and that’s why a lot of reviewers have said my books are very cinematic, because I actually do see them before I write them.” ~ Eric Van Lustbader
“I write my books in my head, and not in a specific study with a view. The view is from my inner eyes.” ~ Wilbur Smith
“The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.”
“Writing is a good example of self-abandonment. I never completely forget myself except when I am writing and I am never more completely myself than when I am writing.” ~ Flannery O’Connor
“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.” ~ Graham Greene
“You don’t pay any attention to anything anyone else says, no opinions. The important thing is to explode with a story, to emotionalize a story, not to think it. You start thinking – the story’s going to die on its feet.” ~ Ray Bradbury
“I’ve always thought of the book as a visual art form, and it should represent a single artistic idea, which it does if you write your own material.”
~ Chris Van Allsburg
“I often meet frustrated young writers who say they’ve only got so far and just can’t finish a book. Even if you don’t happen to use what you’ve worked on that day, it has taught you something and you’ll be amazed when you might come back to it and use it again.” ~ Eoin Colfer