Quotes About Author

Normally I start with a plot, and write a synopsis, and the ideas come from the construction.

I've never really found inspiration for story ideas in the news, but I'd say it certainly affects our lives in so many ways. I would say that certainly the stories of the day appear in the work - I just have never gone so far as to say, well, this particular event could influence a plot of an entire book.

I admire Dickens beyond words. He is one of the greatest plotters of all times. Didn't have a clue about women, but he sure could plot.

I feel like I know how to write plot.

I feel a lot of adult fiction looks down on plot as a lesser form of literature.

In everything I've written, the crime has always just been an occasion to write about other things. I don't have a picture of myself as writing crime novels. I like fairly strong narratives, but it's a way of getting a plot moving.

In writing, I'm totally anti-plans of any kind. All my attempts to plan and plot novels have come to grief, and in expensive ways.

And I do have one surefire plot I have not and probably never will write because of my fear someone will carry it out.

'Paquita' has a patchy history, beginning in 1846, and a patchy plot.

I didn't want to do comedy again. It is way harder when you are doing comedy. You can't just concentrate on the character and the plot. In comedy, the writers, instead of obsessing about character and plot, obsess about the jokes.

I love good stories; you have to have a good plot - characters which intertwine with a good plot.

There is no 'right' way to begin a novel, but for me, plot has to wait. The character comes first.

I love a well-plotted story. But I'm just not that kind of writer, and it's not necessarily by choice. When I manipulate plot, I feel I lose authenticity.

Certain writers look down their noses at plot, and I think I might have been one of them until I tried it.

What I have to outline is action and plot because I'm not particularly good at that.

I always pity people who have to write my plot synopses.

I do think of 'The Idiot,' in a way, as a self-standing book about a certain struggle to make meaning, the struggle for a girl to find meaning outside of the romance plot.

There are many oral historians in America, but my books are made using the rules of novel writing. I have a beginning, a plot, characters.

Those are my favorite kinds of movies, where the plots are quite small and character-driven.

When I'm writing, I don't read much crime at all - you don't want to get distracted by other people's plots.

I'm real bent on dialogue. I'm just a little bit crazy and when you put that along with 20 years as a criminal lawyer, it's pretty easy to come up with some interesting plots.

I thought at first that I might write mysteries, but then I said, 'Mysteries have plots, and I'm not sure I can do that yet.'

A lot of my early career, I wrote story songs that had narratives, that had plots.

I almost write to formula, because there's a historical beginning, then the plots get convoluted.