Madame Bellwings, Memoir Elf Coordinator, was not at all pleased with this request, because elves who write the memoirs of teenage girls have the habit of returning to the magical realm with atrocious grammar. They can't seem to shake the phrases "wa...
I always swore I would never write a book. But I read Clare Balding's and it was really interesting and so prettily written and lovely and not too revealing. I went to her book launch and met her editor who said 'why don't you think about it? You can...
For obvious reasons, the relationship between novelists, the reviewing establishment and critics in general is chronically, and often acutely, edgy. A kind of low-intensity warfare prevails, with outbreaks of savagery. It is partly an ownership issue...
I am a dash man and not a miler, and it is probable that I will never write a novel. So far the novels of this war have had too much of the strength, maturity and craftsmanship critics are looking for, and too little of the glorious imperfections whi...
When I was 8 years old, I made my own encyclopedia of American biography - Johnny Appleseed, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Charles Lindbergh, my pantheon of favorite heroes. Then I would write my own things and sew them together and try to ...
For the last few years I've tried to force myself to write at least one page every day, which doesn't sound like much but it's actually pretty hard to manage. Because I'm not allowed to do a make-up day. I can't do two pages the next day. The punishm...
Besides, who is to say that the feelings he writes in his diary are his true feelings? Who is to say that at each moment while the pen moves he is truly himself? At one moment he might truly be himself, at another he might simply be making things up....
I write incredibly slowly. And, on top of that, I spent my entire youth and twenties working like a dog, so one of the things that happened when I finished 'Drown' was that I got busy living. I'd never travelled, I'd never seen anything. So I did as ...
My best advice is to first write for yourself and stay in your story and just pour all of your good stuff and bad stuff into it. By 'stuff,' I mean all the experiences and pleasures and little hurts that make up a life. Because even (and especially) ...
I wrote for years before I was ever published, and I don't think I could ever stop. That said, I was also a veterinarian before I sold my first book, and I still volunteer my time to help with animal welfare causes. So that is a career I would be hap...
I wish I could write about shows outside New York. I often feel like the last person to know anything, because I almost never get to leave town, and when I do, I tend to go for three days max. Seeing between 30 and 40 shows a week in 100 or so galler...
Writing a book is a long and difficult process for me. I'm a slow writer, so I spend the year with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike in my head. I was thinking about this the other day. I wrote the first book in 1987. Literally every day since that time, Elvis...
Rufus T. Firefly: Take a letter. Bob Roland: Who to? Rufus T. Firefly: To my dentist. [Roland writes out the following] Rufus T. Firefly: Uh... Dear dentist, enclosed find check for $500, yours very truly. Send that off immediately. Bob Roland: I'll,...
Professor Snape: [taps the blank Marauder's Map with his wand] Reveal your secrets. [writing appears on the map] Professor Snape: Read it. Harry: "Messrs. Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, offer their compliments to Professor Snape and... " Prof...
[in 1921] Virginia Woolf: [writing in her book] Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. [in 1951] Laura Brown: [reading in bed] Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. [in 2001] Clarissa Vaughan: Sally, I think I'll buy th...
Young Allie: Why didn't you write me? Why? It wasn't over for me, I waited for you for seven years. But now it's too late. Young Noah: I wrote you 365 letters. I wrote you everyday for a year. Young Allie: You wrote me? Young Noah: Yes... it wasn't o...
Pink: [singing] I don't need no arms around me. And I don't need no drugs to calm me. I have seen the writing on the wall. Don't think I need anything at all. No! Don't think I'll need anything at all. All at all, it was all just bricks in the wall. ...
Shrek: Um... Fiona? Princess Fiona: Yes, Shrek? Shrek: I... I love you. Princess Fiona: Really? Shrek: Really, really! Princess Fiona: Mmmm... I love you too. [they kiss. Thalonius writes "Awwww" on a cue card for the audience. Fiona floats up in the...
Stephen Hawking: I will write a book. Jane Hawking: About what? Stephen Hawking: Time. Jane Hawking: Time? Stephen Hawking: What is the nature of time? Will it ever come to an end? Can we go back in time? Some day these answers may seem as obvious to...
Derek Smalls: Remember at Luton Palace we were talking about writing a rock musical based on the life of Jack the Ripper. David St. Hubbins: Yeah! [singing] David St. Hubbins: You're a naughty one... Derek Smalls, David St. Hubbins: Saucy Jack... Da...
Damien: Give me your letters, Chris. [Damien holds out his hand. Chris just looks at him] Damien: Give me your letters, Chris! Chris: I didn't know what to write. And Mam can't read. [Damien lets his hand fall, sighs] Chris: Just tell her I love her....
