“There's many things that I am. And all of those things come together at some point. If somebody wants to limit me, you know and they'll say, 'Well, this is Walter Mosley, the mystery writer.' I don't like that. Because I do many things.” IfsKnowsWantWellsTogetherMysteryLimits Author:Walter Mosley
“My father cared about the world he lived in, and so he admitted his confusion about his place in America because he didn't want me to make the same mistake in my life.” WorldWantAmericaFatherMistakeConfusionWant MeSame Mistakes Book:What Next: A Memoir Toward World Peace Source: What Next: A Memoir Toward World Peace
“One wouldn't want to say that what makes a good writer is the number of books that the writer wrote because you could write a whole number of bad books. Books that don't work, mediocre books, or there's a whole bunch of people in the pulp tradition who have done that. They just wrote... and actually they didn't write a whole bunch of books, they just wrote one book many times.” PeopleWantWritingBookDoneWholeNumbersTraditionBunchMediocreGood WritersPulp Author:Walter Mosley
“If you want to be a writer, you have to write every day... You don't go to a well once but daily. You don't skip a child's breakfast or forget to wake up in the morning.” IfsWantWritingWellsChildrenForgetMorningWake UpBreakfastSkip Author:Walter Mosley
“All writing is that structure of revelation. There's something you want to find out. If you know everything up front in the beginning, you really don't need to read further if there's nothing else to find out.” IfsKnowsWantNeedsWritingFrontsStructureRevelations Author:Walter Mosley
“Readers no longer need novelists to tell us what it's like to cross the world on a ship or fight a war. In the twenty-first century, we get that information in other ways. The thing that's still a mystery to us is the human heart. What we want is to understand people, what they're doing, and why they're doing it.” PeopleWorldWayWantNeedsFirstsHumansHeartStillsWarFightingMysteryCenturyInformationReaderCrossesTwentiesShipsNovelistsHuman Heart Author:Walter Mosley
“... you should wait until the book is finished before making a judgment on its content. By the time you have gone through twenty drafts, the characters may have developed lives of their own, completely separate from the people you based them on in the beginning. And even if someone, at some time, gets upset with your words - so what? Live your life, sing your song. Anyone who loves you will want you to have that.” PeopleIfsWantShouldWritingMayBookCharacterSongWaitingGoneLove YouJudgmentTwentiesFinishedUpsetLive Your Life Author:Walter Mosley
