Arts, Media & Entertainment: Writing Quotes

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"I've had trouble being in relationships and writing. This has been a real problem for me. I don't know if it's because I'm not free to fantasize or create these fantasy things about other people"

Lucinda Williams, Musician

"In journalism, it is simpler to sound off than it is to find out. It is more elegant to pontificate than it is to sweat"

Harold Evans, Journalist

"I really enjoy the writing process because I can do it from my house. I can create these characters and take them in the different directions that I want to take them. You have a lot of freedom as a writer"

Rick Schroder, Actor

"The actual Blue Rose murders, which lie at the core of the three novels, yield various incorrect solutions which assume the status of truth"

Peter Straub, Writer

"Research to me is as important or more important than the writing. It is the foundation upon which the book is built"

Leon Uris, Writer

"The mission of the playwright is to look in his heart and write, to write whatever concerns him at the moment; to write with passion and conviction. Of course the measure of the man will be the measure of the play"

Robert Anderson, Soldier

"I can't remember anything I ever wrote"

Joni Mitchell, Musician

"Instead, I was interested in what I guess I could call narrative indeterminacy, in questioning the apparent, taken-for-granted authority of any particular representation of the events in question"

Peter Straub, Writer

"Using the device of an imaginary world allows me, in some strange way, to go to the central issues - it's one of many ways to express feelings about real people, about real human relationships"

Lloyd Alexander, Writer

"I loved all the world's mythologies"

Lloyd Alexander, Writer

"I decided that adventure was the best way to learn about writing"

Lloyd Alexander, Writer

"The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature is in that sense subversive"

Lionel Trilling, Critic

"When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if I could bring that private world to life that found its first expression through reading. I really dislike the romantic notion of the artist"

John McGahern, Writer

"I think it's linked to the realisation that we're not going to live forever and that the way of saying and the language become more important than the story"

John McGahern, Writer

"But that private world, once it's dramatised, doesn't live again until it finds a reader"

John McGahern, Writer

"Any room where you feel a good vibe is a good place to write"

Nicole Appleton, Musician

"It is not the task of a reader to please her subjects"

Joyce Maynard, Writer

"A satirist is a man whose flesh creeps so at the ugly and the savage and the incongruous aspects of society that he has to express them as brutally and nakedly as possible in order to get relief"

John Dos Passos, Novelist

"I cannot understate the ability to handle classical texts such as Shakespeare"

Louise Jameson, Actress

"Once you have invented a character with three dimensions and a voice, you begin to realize that some of the things you'd like him to do to further your plot are things that such a person wouldn't or couldn't do"

Thomas Perry, Musician

"Contrary to what many writers imply about the process, nobody forces a writer to sell his work to the film industry"

Thomas Perry, Musician

"My job is writing. I get paid to do it. When was the last time you heard someone challenge a doctor for making money off of cancer?"

Joyce Maynard, Writer

"I have long observed that the act of writing is viewed, by some, as an elite and otherworldly act, all the more so if a person isn't paid for what she writes"

Joyce Maynard, Writer

"So much of literary sci-fi is about creating worlds that are rich and detailed and make sense at a social level. We'll create a world for people and then later present a narrative in that world"

James Cameron, Director

"What interests me is trying to catch the reflection of the human being on the page. I'm interested in how ordinary people live their lives"

Tracy Kidder, Author

"I know that to write you have to have stories you want to tell. You have to keep your mind alive, and you have to work hard"

Tracy Kidder, Author

"I always want to write something better than the last book"

Tracy Kidder, Author

"There's a certain possessiveness of writers sometimes"

William Devane, Actor

"And I have to credit David Jacobs with the opportunities he gave me. He was totally into sharing the creation of characters. David put together a show that told the story of people over many years' time, and that was greatly enjoyable. Though nowadays, that is frowned upon"

William Devane, Actor

"Fiction has consisted either of placing imaginary characters in a true story, which is the Iliad, or of presenting the story of an individual as having a general historical value, which is the Odyssey"

Raymond Queneau, Poet

"I would like to read some books: I don't have time; I would like to continue working on my autobiography"

Gunther Schuller, Composer

"None of my characters are rich or famous, and the situations they find themselves in could happen to anyone"

Nicholas Sparks, Author

"I suppose I'm most influenced by any good, commercial writer. I learn from everyone!"

Nicholas Sparks, Author

"So there's a lot of people tied into believing that the traditional response to the authorship question. In terms of actors, some people get very angry about it"

Mark Rylance, Actor

"I write longer sentences than most of the others, maybe because I probably like Henry James more than they do"

Peter Straub, Writer

"Each new book is a tremendous challenge"

Peter Straub, Writer

"As soon as I started writing Julia, by which I mean while writing its first sentence, I felt a sudden, reassuring charge of excitement. I knew it was going to work"

Peter Straub, Writer

"All characters come from people I know, but after the initial inspiration, I tend to modify the characters so they fit with the story"

Nicholas Sparks, Author

"Above all, a query letter is a sales pitch and it is the single most important page an unpublished writer will ever write. It's the first impression and will either open the door or close it. It's that important, so don't mess it up. Mine took 17 drafts and two weeks to write!"

Nicholas Sparks, Author

"I feel for Veronica Mars so much when I'm watching at home. It is a wonderful story. The writing is consistently funny, biting, charming, heart-wrenching, etc. I also like the look of it. The cinematography - different from any other show"

Jason Dohring, Actor

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