“I'd always envied actors who got to play real people or got to do research. I've always just had these scripts where, I mean not in a bad way, but it was right on the page.” PeopleWayMeanRealPlayActorsPagesResearchScriptsEnvied Author:Luke Wilson
“I write nonfiction in this thriller-esque style. I have all the facts; I research it. I have thousands of pages of court documents... I try to get inside my stories.” WritingTryingFactsStoriesStylePagesResearchCourtNonfictionDocumentsThrillersWriting Nonfiction Author:Ben Mezrich
“I'm still afflicted with the malady of research. I don't like what I do, and I paint it out, and paint it out again. I hope this mania will come to an end... I'm like a child at school. The white page must always be evenly written and slap! bang! and there's a blot! I'm still blotting and I'm forty years old.” YearsChildrenStillsEndsSchoolWhiteWrittenPagesResearchPaintFrustrationFortyBangsSlapManiaMaladyForty Years Old Author:Pierre-Auguste Renoir
“It's very rare that I ever go and research a particular subject. Mostly I do serendipitous research, I read stuff, things spinning out of the page.” StuffSubjectsParticularPagesResearchSpinning Author:Terry Pratchett
“I do my best writing between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.. Almost every friend I have who is a consistently productive writer, does their best writing between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. My quota is two crappy pages per day. I keep it really low so I'm not so intimidated that I never get started. I will do the gathering of interviews and research throughout the day. I'll get all my notes and materials together and then I'll do the synthesis between 10 p.m. to bed, which is usually 4 or 5 a.m.” WritingDoeTwoTogetherMaterialsBedPagesLowsResearchNotesInterviewsProductiveConsistentlyGatheringIntimidatedSynthesisQuota Author:Tim Ferriss
“Nick Yablon ranges widely, from log cabins to skyscrapers and from Tocqueville to pulp fiction. He combines imaginative research with probing interpretation. Untimely Ruins offers fresh and challenging insights about the American built environment on nearly every page.” ChallengesFictionEnvironmentOffersPagesResearchBuiltInsightRuinsRangeInterpretationImaginativeCabinsSkyscraperPulpProbingLog CabinsBuilt Environment Author:T. J. Jackson Lears
“I didn’t like it [computer] when I first began using it. Where it’s helped me a lot is in nonfiction which is a kind of different process. You’ve got research, you’ve got your notes, You can block out what you want to work on for the next 10 pages and put it in another file, and then you can kind of carve it into shape” WantFirstsKindDifferentNextProcessFictionShapesComputerPagesResearchNotesWhat You WantBlockFilesNon Fiction Author:Joan Didion
“In the case of Anathem, most of the research had to do with philosophy and metaphysics. Reading this sort of thing has never been my strong suit, so I actually had to be somewhat more "organized and results-driven" than is my habit. I just made up my mind that I was going to have to read some of these philosophy tomes, and I forced myself to read something like 10 pages a day until I had bashed my way through them.” WayMindMadePhilosophyReadingStrongResultsCasesHabitPagesResearchDrivenSuitsMy WayOrganizedMetaphysics Author:Neal Stephenson
“There are major writers who have written books [based on my research]. If one looks carefully at the copyright page, you'll see my name. Writers of the stature of Mailer and even bigger. All over the world.” IfsWorldLooksBookNamesWrittenMajorsPagesResearchBiggerStatureCopyright Author:Lawrence Schiller
“It takes me three months of research and nine months of work to produce a book. When I start writing, I do two pages a day; if I'm gonna do 320, that's 160 days.” IfsWritingTwoBookThreeProduceMonthsPagesResearchNineTake MeThree MonthsNine Months Author:Alan Furst
“People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on marketing research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.” PeopleKnowsWantShowsPagesResearchTasksMarketingRelyWant U Book:Motivating Thoughts of Steve Jobs Source: Motivating Thoughts of Steve Jobs
“I try to research or make up for myself what happened in any character's life. From when he was born until the first page of the script. I fill in the blanks.” TryingFirstsCharacterBornHappenedPagesResearchScripts Author:Viggo Mortensen
“I've always done a lot of research and stuff around the songs that I write so there are pages and pages of writing and you can kind of see these songs emerging.” WritingKindDoneSongStuffPagesResearchEmerging Author:Nick Cave
“People ask me all the time how I prepare and, to tell you the truth, I think if what's on the page is rich and compelling, as far as I'm concerned, if it's beautifully presented on the page, all you have to do is put yourself there and pretend, and the rest takes care of itself. That is, unless it's a real stretch with an accent or if history matters where research has to be done.” PeopleIfsThinkingRealMatterDoneCareAsksRichPagesResearchConcernedTake CareAsk MeCompellingAccents Author:Miguel Ferrer