Because every
story begins
with words

video finding a playwright

Video: Finding a playwright.

It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil, trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.

William Faulkner

Socially, a journalist fits in somewhere between a whore and a bartender. But spiritually he stands beside Galileo. He knows the world is round.

Sherman Reilly Duffy

A writer is a world trapped in a person.

Victor Hugo

If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it.

Stan Lee

Stories are never too long or too short. They’re too interesting or too boring.

William Shawn

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.

Bob Dylan

I do not over-intellectualize the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.

Tom Clancy

Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.

Gloria Steinem

I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.

Stephen Wright

Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river.

Lisa See

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.

Truman Capote Quote

It’s an accepted fact that all writers are crazy; even the normal ones are weird.

William Goldman

Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.

Edward Albee

Ever heard of a carpenter not going to work because he has “carpenter’s block”? If a writer can’t write, it’s because he doesn’t really want to, he isn’t ready to get it on paper or he’s just plain lazy.

Chet Cunningham

What I loved most about calling myself a reporter was that it gave me an excuse to show up anyplace.

Jeanette Walls

In Hollywood, the woods are full of people that learned to write but evidently can’t read. If they could read their stuff, they’d stop writing.

Will Rogers

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

Robert A. Heinlein

I haven’t got 10 rules that guarantee success, though I promise I’d share them if I did. The truth is that I found success by stumbling off alone in a direction most people thought was a dead end, breaking all the 1990s shibboleths about children’s books in the process.

J.K. Rowling

If you haven’t got an idea, start a story anyway. You can always throw it away, and maybe by the time you get to the fourth page you will have an idea, and you’ll only have to throw away the first three pages.

William C. Gault

If you start with a bang, you won’t end with a whimper.

T.S. Eliot