“Santa Claus is a god. He's no less a god than Ahura Mazda, or Odin, or Zeus. Think of the white beard, the chariot pulled through the air by a breed of animal which doesn't ordinarily fly, the prayers (requests for gifts) which are annually mailed to him and which so baffle the Post Office, the specially-garbed priests in all the department stories. And don't gods reflect their creators' society? The Greeks had a huntress goddess, and gods of agriculture and war and love. What else would we have but a god of giving, of merchandising, and of consumption?” ThinkingGivingWarStoriesPrayerWhiteAnimalAirOfficeAnd LoveCreatorPostsGreekDepartmentPriestsGoddessConsumptionAgricultureSantaRequestBeardSanta ClausZeusChariotsPost OfficeOdinHuntressMerchandising Author:Donald E. Westlake
“Science fiction is a weird category, because it's the only area of fiction I can think of where the story is not of primary importance. Science fiction tends to be more about the science, or the invention of the fantasy world, or the political allegory. When I left science fiction, I said "They're more interested in planets, and I'm interested in people."” PeopleThinkingWorldPoliticalFantasyImportanceScience FictionInventionAllegory Author:Donald E. Westlake
“I don't think I would have been a good architect. Really, I have thought about this from time to time, and I might have wound up like my father, who never did find that which he could devote his life to. He sort of drifted from job to job. He was a traveling salesman, he was a bookkeeper, he was an office manager, he was here, there, there. And however enthusiastic he was at the beginning, his job would bore him. If I hadn't had the writing, I think I might have replicated what he was doing, which would not have been good.” ThinkingWritingFatherOfficeWoundsArchitectEnthusiasticSalesman Author:Donald E. Westlake
“I'm one of the narrative-push people. I don't outline, I don't plan ahead. So I'm my first reader, telling myself the story as I'm going along. Since I haven't designed it ahead of time, each day I have to be sure that the footing is solid before I make the next step. I think you could be more intricate if you work it out ahead of time.” PeopleThinking Author:Donald E. Westlake
“I don't think I ever have trouble with writer's block. It's different when you make it up as you go - that means you're going to get stuck. I wouldn't call it writer's block, I'd say, "I don't know where the hell this story is going."” ThinkingMeanDifferentHellTroubleStuckBlock Author:Donald E. Westlake
“I know people who have suffered writer's block, and I don't think I've ever had it. A friend of mine, for three years he couldn't write. And he said that he thought of stories and he knew the stories, could see the stories completely, but he could never find the door. Somehow that first sentence was never there. And without the door, he couldn't do the story. I've never experienced that. But it's a chilling thought.” PeopleThinkingWritingBlockChill Author:Donald E. Westlake
“One of our continuing myths was summed up in Huckleberry Finn: Our escape, what we think of as our escape, is that we can always light out for the territories. Well, we really can't, not anymore, but that's part of the American character - that belief that at any moment, I could just drop the coffee cup and disappear. And it makes for a different self-image and a different story, in a way.” ThinkingDifferentMomentsCharacterBeliefMythDisappearCoffeeCoffee CupHuckleberry Author:Donald E. Westlake
“The other thing that I got back then - the Parker novels have never had much of anything to do with race. There have been a few black characters here and there, but the first batch of books back then, I got a lot of letters from urban black guys in their 20s, 30s, 40s. What were they seeing that they were reacting to? And I think I finally figured it out - at that time, they were guys who felt very excluded from society, that they had been rejected by the greater American world.” ThinkingWorldBookCharacterGuyBlackNovelRejectedUrban Author:Donald E. Westlake
“I've had stuff of mine adapted by other people, so I've come to the conclusion that a movie is a different form from a novel and there is no such thing as a true adaptation. You have to adapt to this other thing and do it right. But that voice of the original should somehow still be there, and the original intent should still be there. So if the original writer saw the movie, the writer would say, "Well, that's not what I wrote, but that's what I meant." And if you can do that, I think you've done your job as a screenwriter.” PeopleThinkingDifferentDoneNovelConclusionAdaptation Author:Donald E. Westlake
“Publishing is the only industry I can think of where most of the employees spend most of their time stating with great self-assurance that they don't know how to do their jobs. "I don't know how to sell this," they explain, frowning, as though it's your fault. "I don't know how to package this. I don't know what the market is for this book. I don't know how we're going to draw attention to this." In most occupations, people try to hide their incompetence; only in publishing is it flaunted as though it were the chief qualification for the job.” PeopleThinkingKnowsTryingI CanBookSelfJobsAttentionKnow HowIndustryDrawsSellsFaultsChiefsEmployeeOccupationPublishingAssurancePackagesIncompetenceQualificationsFrowningSelf Assurance Author:Donald E. Westlake
“If you think of movie studio executives, say, as society, then I root for the independent producers.” IfsThinkingRootsIndependentStudiosProducersExecutives Author:Donald E. Westlake
