Writing Quotes - Page 440

My personal opinion is that if someone writes honestly about war, it will inherently be anti-war.

I don't have to change anything. I think that's the secret to comedy. You want to be universal and appeal to everyone. You want to put yourself in a position that no matter what you're talking about, everyone can relate to it and understand it, because it's an experience that everyone can go through. That's what I pattern my writing material and jokes after. I'm trying to maintain a level of realness that my fans can appreciate.

I don't write material. Funny things happen to me in the course of a day, and I just make notes.

I write out of gratitude for all the books I have loved over the years.

I am co-writing a screenplay now and I'm working on the rights to another story I want to do. So I plan to produce and direct. So, for me, I don't really feel that I am vulnerable to that sad baggage that comes with the business of filmmaking.

When something irritates me, I don't go home and write; I just don't do that.

I spend a lot of time writing in New York.

When you write songs, you can't really point out the exact thing you're inspired by. It's more a state or a mood or an atmosphere that you're trying to put into words.

I think I am doing my works to link myself, my family, with society — with the cosmos. To link me with my family to the cosmos, that is easy, because all literature has some mystic tendency. So when we write about our family, we can link ourselves to the cosmos.

I began writing seriously in my mid-20s and didnt publish my first book until I was 41.

After finishing the first draft, I work for as long as it takes (for two or three weeks, most often) to rework that first draft on a computer. Usually that involves expansion: filling in and adding to, but trying not to lose the spontaneous, direct sound. I use that first draft as a touchstone to make sure everything else in that section has the same sound, the same tone and impression of spontaneity.

If I don't stay creative and if I don't stay in the studio and keep writing and recording, I get kind of depressed. I can't quite remember what I'm supposed to be doing with myself.

We leaned on family, church, school, friends and sports. That's basically all we had. All those things really shaped my life and shaped me musically. It's why I write the way I do.

As Aristotle said, you have to be an aristocrat or a reactionary to write a good proletarian poem.

I still haven't quite caught on to the idea of writing without dialogue. I like writing dialogue, and there's nothing wrong with dialogue in movies.

Also, I liked John Cage's music. I liked it for its craziness, the use of silence, the boldness-anything to get me away from writing about.. I don't know what academic poets write about.

I'm pretty much living my dream job, but one day I would love to dedicate more time to writing and performing my own music.

But the real intent of my writing is not to say, you must think in this way. The real intent is to enrich: here are some of the many important facets of this extraordinary Kosmos; have you thought of including them in your worldview? My work is an attempt to make room in the Kosmos for all the dimensions, levels, domains, waves, memes, modes, individuals, cultures, and so on ad infinitum.

Me and Norman Mailer have talked about how hard it is in America to get better. Especially at writing.

I have never learned to read or write music so I am not a virtuoso musician like the others you mentioned. I am completely unable to play like them because I never learned classical music, I just developed my own crazy style!

I always write lyrics first and the rhythm and the melody come from the lyrics. It always comes from the lyrics: words have rhythm and words have melody.

My favorite period is World War II, and I'm in the middle of writing my fourth novel set in that era.

The writing is a joy, so seamless you nearly miss the sheer artistry of the style and the terrific, wry humour.

I'm the perfect amount of guarded. I don't reveal too much, and I never reveal who the songs are about. They are real life. People get that. I date a lot of musicians and they do the same thing. People that work with me - who I write about too - they get it. It's my creative outlet, my therapy.

I sing songs that I have lived or I write them because I have lived them. I think the believability factor is key.