I've just been writing stuff down as it comes to me. I haven't thought, 'Let me write some major opus here.'
My desk is like a 'U,' so I have my computer and lots of dictionaries because I write in Spanish and I live in English.
Mystery writing involves solving a puzzle, but 'high suspense' writing is a situation whereby the writer thrusts the hero/heroine into high drama.
I don't try and write strong female characters or strong male characters, I just try and write, hopefully, strong characters and sometimes they happen to be female.
If you gather a lot of stuff, then you write it, write in scenes with dialogue. Somewhere in the middle, rising from all this research like strong metal towers, is your opinions.
I don't buy into the idea that an Irish writer should write about Ireland, or a gay writer should write about being gay.
The child from nine to 12 interests me very much. And so, those were the years that I like to write about, when I'm writing.
I need to write in a small room - the smaller the better. I can't write in a big room where someone might sneak up behind my back.
I write lustily and humorously. It isn't calculated; it's the way I think. I've invented a writing style that expresses who I am.
I've been writing songs all along, and since moving to Nashville in the late-'80s, I'd begun writing something like 15-20 songs a year, instead of the typical three or four in previous years.
I've probably put my 10,000 hours into writing, but I believe writing well is also greatly influenced by certain intangibles like mood and inspiration.
Freedom begins the moment you realize someone else has been writing your story and it's time you took the pen from his hand and started writing it yourself.
Well, everything surprises me about the writing process because illustrating comes much more naturally to me than writing does.
I started writing about New York as soon as I arrived. I was 19. I used to write short stories and send them out.
Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind.
Everyone writes in whatever way feels comfortable to them. People write songs because maybe they don't feel so comfortable talking about whatever matters.
If you want to see the consequences of ideas, write a story. If you want to see the consequences of belief, write a story in which somebody is acting on the ideas or beliefs that she has.
Some people might go to the gym and swim laps, but I write songs. Every single day, I write something new and record it.
It means that no matter what you write, be it a biography, an autobiography, a detective novel, or a conversation on the street, it all becomes fiction as soon as you write it down.
Keeping a habit, in the smallest way, protects and strengthens it. I write every day, even if it's just a sentence, to keep my habit of daily writing strong.
If you were to say to me that I couldn't paint, I would write. If I couldn't write, I would be a set designer. As long as I'm creating something, I'm happy.
