It was just curiosity. And the top result was for a list of 10 compiled by writer Nicole Bianchi on her website! If you’re a Read More...
A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellow man is not conceivable as a writer.
When writing a novel, that’s pretty much entirely what life turns into: “House burned down. Car stolen. Cat exploded. Did 1,500 easy words, so all in all it was a pretty good day.”
My aim is to put down what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way I can tell it.
To me, movies and music go hand in hand. When I’m writing a script, one of the first things I do is find the music I’m going to play for the opening sequence.
Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.
If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it.
It is only natural to pattern yourself after someone. But you can’t just copy someone. If you like someone’s work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to.
I write the last line, and then I write the line before that. I find myself writing backwards for a while, until I have a solid sense of how that ending sounds and feels. You have to know what your voice sounds like at the end of the story, because it tells you how to sound when you begin.
Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.
The fact is, I don’t know where my ideas come from. Nor does any writer. The only real answer is to drink way too much coffee and buy yourself a desk that doesn’t collapse when you beat your head against it.
Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.
If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it’s to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel.
Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

























