"If you write, one of the questions you're always trying to answer is, Where do you get your ideas? And, if you write, you know how pointless a question this is and how difficult it is to answer"
About this Quote
The subtext is a defense of process over mythology. Ideas aren’t rare minerals extracted from a mystical cave; they’re the byproduct of attention, reading, memory, irritation, desire, overheard dialogue, misremembered history. When Abbey calls the question “pointless,” she’s also calling out how it dodges the harder, less glamorous truth: the real work is not getting ideas but testing them, shaping them, discarding most of them, then rewriting what survives. A non-writer asks for the spark; a writer lives in the combustion.
Context matters, too: genre authors like Abbey, who built careers in fantasy and shared-world storytelling, are especially familiar with the fetishization of “original ideas.” Their work is often treated as concept-first, as if worldbuilding arrives fully formed. Abbey’s answer quietly insists on labor, craft, and accumulation - and it punctures the flattering notion that creative people have access to a different universe. They don’t. They just stay awake to this one longer.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Abbey, Lynn. (2026, January 15). If you write, one of the questions you're always trying to answer is, Where do you get your ideas? And, if you write, you know how pointless a question this is and how difficult it is to answer. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-write-one-of-the-questions-youre-always-168027/
Chicago Style
Abbey, Lynn. "If you write, one of the questions you're always trying to answer is, Where do you get your ideas? And, if you write, you know how pointless a question this is and how difficult it is to answer." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-write-one-of-the-questions-youre-always-168027/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If you write, one of the questions you're always trying to answer is, Where do you get your ideas? And, if you write, you know how pointless a question this is and how difficult it is to answer." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-write-one-of-the-questions-youre-always-168027/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.
