Quotes About Authorship

Cecelia Ahern asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.

It's only a book. But what it means to write a book.

I'm always really comfortable writing strong, smart ladies. That's kind of my bailiwick.

The crown is not my right, and pleaseth me not. The Lady Mary is the rightful heir.

'Cemetery Lake' was an interesting book to write.

I would have never thought to write a memoir, but I'm glad I did it.

The Dumas memoirs - which I also discovered when I was a kid - had a big impact on me.

It took me 14 years to write 'Crazy Brave' because I kept changing the form and I also kept running away from the story. I said I don't really want to write about myself. But it's about writing about memory.

I should mention something that nobody ever thinks about, but proofreading takes a lot of time. After you write something, there are these proofs that keep coming, and there's this panicky feeling that 'This is me and I must make it better.'

Writing by committee becomes much less about a vision. It is really about a piece of merchandise.

I'm at the mercy of whatever character comes into my head.

If you try to write 1,000 words a day, as I do, after 100 days you'll look up and have a book. It may be a mess, and you may have to revise it 50 times, but you can't revise it if you haven't written it.

When I sit down to write, I don't think about writing about an idea or a given message. I just try to write a story which is hard enough.

The only other thing which I think is important is: Don't write a book or start a book with the expectation of communicating a message in a very important way.

When I write, I don't think about messages for my readers.

As a writer you have a duty to be a messenger.

My method is, I just sit down and write a book.

One thing I can tell you is this, that I am not a methodical writer.

I've been influenced by so many different writers along the way - from Charles Dickens, Roger Zelazny, Michael Moorcock, John D. McDonald, and so many others - that it would take a page or two to list them all.

I'm not angry; I write about angry characters. When I'm doing that, I'm happy. Just like when I'm writing about Mickey Sabbath being lustful, I'm not feeling lustful; I'm happy.

I get the beginning. I get the end. Then I write the middle. That's how I do it.

I write screenplays in the middle of the night.

When all my kids were at home, I used to write from midnight onwards.

I said from the start I had to be trustful of the Millennium universe. It was not going to be a Stieg Larsson book, but my interpretation of his iconic characters and universe.