“Unfortunately for novelists, real life is getting way too funny and far-fetched.” Quote by Carl Hiaasen
“Music can be a distraction and an escape. Sometimes a welcome escape. You need it. But music can also serve a very important social function because music can do things that mere prose, mere ordinary political agitation can't do.” NeedsImportantSometimesPoliticalSocialCan DoOrdinaryFunctionMereWelcomeProseDistractionAgitation Author:Howard Zinn
“Sometimes I feel that the world is made up of sensible people who know the plot and bloody idiots who don't.” PeopleKnowsWorldFeelsMadeSometimesIdiotPlotSensibleBloody Author:Terry Pratchett
“My agent pointed out one day that I had been quoted by a columnist in some American newspaper, and he noted with some glee that they simply identified me by name without reminding people who I was, apparently in the clear expectation that their readers would know who I am.” PeopleKnowsNamesClearReaderOne DayExpectationsNewspapersWho I AmAgentsRemindingGleeColumnists Author:Terry Pratchett
“I would prefer to use a very inclusive definition of the working class. I'd like to include all of those people who are, if they're not exploited by an immediate employer over them, they're exploited by the system and therefore have a cause to want to change the system. Having a very inclusive definition of the working class creates a great opportunity for organizing people.” PeopleIfsWantUseOpportunityCausesClassDefinitionsWorking ClassEmployersGreat Opportunity Author:Howard Zinn
“That whole idea of threats to national security is a very interesting one. The phrase is very useful for the government to try to encompass the citizenry in the same box as the government is in. To say, "We're all in this together. It threatens all of us."” TryingIdeasWholeGovernmentTogetherInterestingSecurityThreatBoxesPhrasesNational SecurityVery InterestingCitizenry Author:Howard Zinn
“We live in a science fiction universe. We have done for a long time.” LongDoneUniverseFictionLong TimeScience Fiction Author:Terry Pratchett
“If you get the characters right you've done sometimes nearly half the work. I sometimes find I get the characters right then the characters will often help me write the book - not what they look like that's not very important - what people look like is not about their character. You have to describe the shape they leave in the world, how they react to things, what effect they have on people and you do that by telling their story.” PeopleIfsWorldWritingLooksImportantBookSometimesDoneCharacterHelpingStoriesHalfEffectsShapesHelp Me Author:Terry Pratchett
“Even if you assume presidents were democratically elected they still have no right to keep secrets from the American people.” PeopleIfsStillsPresidentSecretAssuming Author:Howard Zinn
“If I'm writing a novel, I'll probably get up in the morning, do email, perhaps blog, deal with emergencies, and then be off novel-writing around 1.00pm and stop around 6.00pm. And I'll be writing in longhand, a safe distance from my computer. If I'm not writing a novel, there is no schedule, and scripts and introductions and whatnot can find themselves being written at any time and on anything.” IfsWritingDealsMorningNovelWrittenSafeComputerDistanceScriptsGet UpSchedulesEmailEmergenciesIntroductionBlogsNovel Writing Author:Neil Gaiman
“I don't believe in "writer's block". I try and deal with getting stuck by having more than one thing to work on at a time. And by knowing that even a hundred bad words that didn't exist before is forward progress.” TryingBelieveDealsKnowingProgressOne ThingHundredDon't BelieveStuckBlockWriter's BlockBad WordForward Progress Author:Neil Gaiman