Quotes from Piers Anthony

In fact, I believe that we need better sex education in our own culture, here in America, so that young folk learn about things like venereal disease before they encounter it.

Princess Rose should indeed be a TV movie, assuming something doesn't go wrong. I don't know how good a movie it will be, because the way movie folk think is different from the way writers think, and I distrust what isn't done my way. This is what I call a healthy paranoia.

I hope to read a Harry Potter novel soon, to see what it's all about. I admit to being annoyed that many good light fantasy writers have had trouble getting published, in England and elsewhere, when it is obvious the readers were waiting for us all along.

Keep writing, because not only does practice improve skill, it gives you more chances to score on the market. I did that for eight years before making my first sale.

Every person professes to love good and hate evil, but in his actions his real preferences emerges.

What I like least is dealing with publishers who simply don't want collaborations regardless of their merit.

I turned my home state of Florida into the Land of Xanth.

If every editor turns you down, maybe you should take a second look at your text, however, just in case.

I do one Xanth novel a year, because at the moment that is all that publishers will accept; they don't want any other type of fiction from me, so Xanth pays my way.

Have a working spouse, because you won't earn a living from writing - not at first, if ever. My wife worked for years to support us.

Normally I work out a general summary of what I mean to do, then start writing, and the details can be different from my anticipation. So there is considerable flow, but always within channels.

I have always admired the work of Phil Farmer and was glad for the chance to work with him. Readers today may be too young to remember his classics like The Lovers.

I don't want ever to be guilty of what my critics claim: doing formula without original elements.

I never do a full outline, and if I did, I would not feel bound to it, because the view from inside a scene can be different from the view outside it. But neither do I just start writing and see what happens; I am far more disciplined than that.

Latia returned, coming around the curve and stepping through the glass. Yes, it's our path, she reported. And it seems to be near the ogre fen. Oh? How do you know? Esk asked. Oh, nothing specific. Trees twisted into pretzels, boulders cracked with hairy fist marks on them, dragons slinking about as if terrified of anything on two legs. Perhaps I am mistaken.

Enough , you hens! Niobe exploded. It's tentative! Lachesis snorted As tentative as a pregnancy,girl!

Come try my strength, you dogs who thought to attack helpless prey! But when you do, O beasts of night, know that you face the Lord of Night. I am Death!

How many people similarly spent their lives searching for their own spells—some gratuitous benefit such as a silver tree or political power or undeserved acclaim—when all they really needed was to be satisfied with what they already had? Sometimes what they had was better than what they thought they wanted.

Do you seek to bribe Death?" Zane asked, half angry and two-thirds curious.

She would have to ride the nightmare in her sleep. Only that would keep it material, or enable her to dematerialize with it.

A good notion for a novel is far too precious to waste; it must be caught the moment it flashes into mental view, or it will escape to the brain of some other writer who really doesn't deserve it.

I don't care how the sin ledger stands. There seem to be a number of artificial standards of good and evil that don't really relate to true merit or demerit. Maybe the official system of classification has failed to keep up with the changing nature of our society.

Now it was done. He was free of Xanth forever. Free to make his own life, without being ridiculed or mothered or tempted. Free to be himself. Bink put his face in his hands and cried.

Yes, I'm always hungry after a fatal injury. --Jordan