Novelist Quotes

We stitch together our days and edit out our nights.

To me, the question of inspiration is an exercise in hindsight. The truth is, inspiration is mysterious at the time. I don't think it's ever a rational process.

There is a difference between a voyeur and a tender witness. Maybe I think the audience is more of a tender witness than a voyeur, which has a shady undertone.

The point is the 'me' that you see before you is not the 'me' in my private little space, shape-shifting into the writing role, nor is it the 'me' that works with the actors. Here, at the end of the film doing interviews, I feel like I'm in disguise.

The most important thing is to have something important to say and finding the means to say it.

The great thing about being a writer is that you have a long, perhaps frighteningly long time in which to do your work.

The concentration of the elite athlete is akin perhaps to the concentration of the writer.

One of the most ephemeral and important things is atmosphere and tone and it's very hard to put your finger on what creates that.

It's dangerous to think too much about how a film will be received. Filmmaking is not a popularity contest. Some would disagree.

I, myself, don't like to see a film on Friday night and then forget it by the next day.

I've never forgotten what it's like to be in your early twenties, which is not a particularly easy time. You've left your family, you've left the strictures of high school, and you're trying to break free and form yourself but you have to support yourself as well. We don't really give enough credenc

I'm trying to get under people's skin in a way. I don't like films that go in one ear and out the other.

I think striking the right tone for your story is, if you like, the alchemical work of writing.

I think it's restrictive to typecast myself as a novelist because I enjoy other forms of expression. I love literature and I love cinema.

I think every single person perceives things differently. We are all singular.

I love films where you go into the cinema and loosen the edges of yourself and you hopefully enter into the world of the film. You're watching something unfold before you. I prefer the idea of wonder or intense wonder over shock or something.

I don't think good films have messages.

I do believe we're all adaptable, and you're probably more adaptable than you realize.

I always find it extremely hard to remember the act of beginning. I almost deliberately forget it.

Although filmmaking is collaborative and involves trust, ultimately it is the director who holds the whole picture together in their head.

All this talk about writing is a little bit moot, because it is almost an unthinking process. It is actually a paradox because you are constantly making choices.

You've really got to start hitting the books because it's no joke out here.

I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird'... I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement.

Folks don't like to have somebody around knowing more than they do.

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.

Well, they're Southern people, and if they know you are working at home they think nothing of walking right in for coffee. But they wouldn't dream of interrupting you at golf.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.

It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.

Before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.