Writing

"To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme."

"Don't get me wrong, magic is cool. But a nervous mother singing to her child at night while something moves quietly through the dark outside her house? That's a story. Handled properly, it's more dramatic than any apocalypse or goblin army could ever be."

"It's harder to write in the third person but the advantage is you move around better."

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's really a stupid thing to want to do."

"Why can't I write something that would awake the dead? That pursuit is what burns most deeply."

"The secret is not to write about what you love best, but about what you, alone, love at all."

"She doesn't quite chop his head off. She makes a Pez dispenser out of him."

"Mrs. Landingham, does the President have free time this morning" "The President has nothing but free time, Toby. Right now he's in the residence eating Cheerios and enjoying Regis and Kathie Lee. Should I get him for you" "Sarcasm's a disturbing thing coming from a woman of your age, Mrs. Landingham." "What age would that be, Toby"Late twenties" "Atta boy."

"[On writing:] "There's a great quote by Julius Irving that went, 'Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them.'", March 25, 2007.)"

"The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor."

"Just as anyone who listens to the muse will hear, you can write out of your own intention or out of inspiration. There is such a thing. It comes up and talks. And those who have heard deeply the rhythms and hymns of the gods, can recite those hymns in such a way that the gods will be attracted."

"What amazes me is that most days feel useless. I don't seem to accomplish anything-just a few pages, most of which don't seem very good. Yet, when I put all those wasted days together, I somehow end up with a book of which I'm very proud."

"Always mystify, torture, mislead, and surprise the audience as much as possible."

"Tell the story that's been growing in your heart, the characters you can't keep out of your head, the tale story that speaks to you, that pops into your head during your daily commute, that wakes you up in the morning."

"You know, everybody's ignorant, just on different subjects."

"In a way, literature is true than life,' he said to himself. 'On paper, you say exactly and completely what you feel. How easy it is to break things off on paper! You hate, you shout, you kill, you commit suicide; you carry things to the very end. And that's why it's false. But it's damned satisfying. In life, you're constantly denying yourself, and others are always contradicting you. On paper, I make time stand still and I impose my convictions on the whole world; they become the only reality."

"The trouble with writing fiction is that it has to make sense, whereas real life doesn't."

"Writers will happen in the best of families."

"Every writer I know has trouble writing."

"The author must keep his mouth shut when his work starts to speak."