Quotes About Writing

When I write books, I've learned not to have any expectations that I'm going to change the world.

I was born to a very large family, one of 7 kids. I grew up with carnivals and chaos all around me, so I can write anywhere.

When I write, I just let my characters go, the way I let life go.

Even when I was writing 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette,' I started to appreciate Seattle's many charms.

I can have people around a lot more because I'm not always chasing them away so I can work on my novel. My non-novel, I mean.

I write scripts, I read scripts, I meet people who chat about their scripts. So honestly, I don't feel bad if I don't act in a film, as long as people are making great films.

Anyone who has an imagination can write a book - it's cheap to do - but movies are big money.

I wrote my first sucio story, as I call them, in 1997. This was always my 'cheater's book,' my book about sucios desgraciados. My plan was to write a book about how people deal with love and loss.

I didn't even know for years that people ever even got paid for this, because they don't teach you that in school. They don't say Shakespeare got a check.

I'm totally not a blogger. Sometimes I don't even check my email. I know I should.

One of my biggest peeves is when the writer hasn't given you enough information to figure everything out. You should be able to go back to the beginning of 'Gone Girl,' after you've already read it and you know everything, and say, 'Check - check - yes, she gave us that information.'

I didn't send back any of the royalty checks.

Even a song like 'Give Love,' in my head, there's a question as I'm writing it, going, 'Is this cheesy? Is it too on the nose to say 'give love?''

I never wanted to write really cheesy pop lyrics - like, 'baby, baby, the sun is shining' - that's not something that interests me personally. I'm always wanting to write something that has some kind of meaning.

Writing is getting killed by too many chefs. Back in the Bogart days, it started with great scripts. You had a writer, and he wrote a script, and that was your movie. I think that's been watered down a bit lately.

Chicago is many things to many people, and to me, it is a place where you can write.

I never thought I would write about Chicago, and I definitely never thought I would write a drama.

I don't think my first book was chick lit.

Choosing writing as a career, just by itself, is a measure of not being a calculating person.

I like to sit and talk to someone, and if they want to write about it, OK. But when it's a chore, I have a choice. There's a choice for all of us, including me.

I can't write a scene unless I've visualized it. Unless I can actually see it, and that's why a lot of reviewers have said my books are very cinematic, because I actually do see them before I write them.

When I wrote 'The Secret Life of Bees,' I was writing about civil rights.

Paper is at the center of so many of the elements of the development of civilization.

I make no claim to be an authority on writing or illustrating for children.