I'm reasonably easygoing. Messing up my lines or making a fool of myself is where you find my fears. Like a lot of English people, I'm prey to embarrassment - the dread that everyone's sort of sniggering at you, that you're going to look like an idio...
When I grew up, the Devil was a reason why I had a headache or the Devil was the reason I got mad today. We always blamed the Devil. I think today when I say the Enemy, I like to make it broader. Sometimes the Enemy can be our own thoughts.
I think if you want to do a thing properly you have to take a lot of care. I've always found it's easier to draw comics if you know clearly in your head what you're drawing, rather than if you try and make it up as you go along.
That fist he was raising at me would wham into the cupboard door, hurting only himself. I saw it all happening, then it really did happen. But I didn't understand the whore thing. Why was he confusing the drinking with the other? Then I got it. Obvio...
I use these senses - touch, sight, feel and smell - as triggers that invite readers or propel them into the scene. The trick is not to make it obvious. I've written an entire chapter about this in my book, 'The Successful Novelist.' I've lectured abo...
We speak, and write, in one of the most diverse, gloriously ecumenical tongues on the planet. In English, there is a word or phrase for pretty much anything we want to say, and if there isn't, we make it up, and it is welcomed into the family. We can...
I usually start with an ending, then outline high points of things that happen, and kind of make up the rest as I go along. Occasionally, the characters surprise me, and I wonder how we got here. Other times, the characters are stubborn and won't do ...
I'm always conscious when I'm writing a story that the women in my books need to save themselves. They don't need to be scooped up into a man's arms and carried off into the sunset. But I also can't stand when writers feature a really strong female c...
When you've got four people to get dressed to get out the door, you don't really tend to spend a lot of time on yourself. But that's the way I roll anyway. I was never one to do my hair and make-up just to go down to the market, so it's really not th...
I don't want to be in a position that could make me vomit, like air travel. I've purloined airsick bags and stuffed them everywhere, just in case I ever feel the need to throw up. I haven't vomited since 1977, but I think about it all the time. I rec...
The first time I worked with colors was by making these mosaics of Pantone swatches. They end up being very large pictures, and I photographed with a very large camera - an 8x10 camera. So you can see the surface of every single swatch - like in this...
I tap danced for ten years before I began to understand people don't make musicals anymore. All I wanted to do was be at MGM working for Arthur Freed or Gene Kelly or Vincent Minelli. Historical and geographical constraints made this impossible. Slow...
Other Father: [singing] Makin' up a song about Coraline/ She's a peach, she's a doll, she's a pal of mine/ She's as cute as a button in the eyes of everyone who's ever laid their eyes on Coraline/ When she comes around exploring/ Mom and I will never...
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Are you shook up? Are you nervous? Private Cowboy: Sir, I am, sir. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Do I make you nervous? Private Cowboy: Sir? Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: "Sir" what? Were you about to call me an asshole?
Kate McCallister: There are 15 people in this house, you're the only one who has to make trouble. Kevin McCallister: I'm the only one getting dumped on. Kate McCallister: You're the only one acting up. Now get upstairs. Kevin McCallister: I *am* upst...
Emmet: [to the Master Builders] I have no experience fighting, leading or making plans. It's going to be really hard, but I... Metalbeard: [Gets up from his seat, yelling] Really hard? [Looming over Emmet] Metalbeard: WIPING YER BUM WITH A HOOK FOR A...
Director: You. Hrundi V. Bakshi: Me? Director: Yes, you. Get off of my set, and out of my picture. Off, off! You're washed up, you're finished! I'll see to it that you never make another movie again! Hrundi V. Bakshi: Does that include television, si...
Dan Enright: How much do they pay instructors up at Columbia? Charles Van Doren: Eighty-six dollars a week. Dan Enright: Do you have any idea how much Bozo the Clown makes? Charles Van Doren: Well... we, we can't all be Bozo the Clown.
Millicent Weems: Caden Cotard is a man already dead, living in a half-world between stasis and antistasis. Time is concentrated and chronology confused for him. Up until recently he has strived valiantly to make sense of his situation, but now he has...
Charlie Bucket: [Takes loaf of bread from his knapsack and holds it up for everyone to see] How 'bout this? Mrs. Bucket: Charlie, where'd you get that? Grandpa Joe: What difference does it make where he got it? Point is he got it.
Gilbert: Ellen? Ellen? Ellen Grape: What? Gilbert: Could you not talk with your mouth full? Ellen Grape: Excuse me? Gilbert: You're making me sick, I'm gonna throw up. Ellen Grape: Oh, okay, dad. Sure thing, dad.
