Music has always been my constant, my salvation. It's cliche to write that, but it's true.
I don't really have time to sit down and write. But when I think of a melody, I call up my answering machine and sing it, so I won't forget it.
I know. I'm lazy. But I made myself a New Years resolution that I would write myself something really special. Which means I have 'til December, right?
Whoever you are, you will not write this book. I can tell you nothing. Do not call me again. Ever.
I hate it, it is tedious... when I write for my act, it is very improvisational, I write bullet points, I cannot sit in front of a computer; that is not my style.
The easiest songs to write are pure fiction. There is no limit to how you can tell the story. I find it difficult when I'm replaying an event through a song.
It is healthier, in any case, to write for the adults one's children will become than for the children one's 'mature' critics often are.
I would wake up really early and go into the hotel bathroom, put a towel over the toilet, and put my laptop there. I'd put my headphones on and just write. And so now when I do writing sessions, and I am stuck on a part, or I can't figure out a chorus, I'm just like, 'Give me a second,' and I'll go to that bathroom.
I like to edit my sentences as I write them. I rearrange a sentence many times before moving on to the next one. For me, that editing process feels like a form of play, like a puzzle that needs solving, and it's one of the most satisfying parts of writing.
I don't want to write formula. I don't want to crank these books out like sausages. Every book is different, which takes a hell of a lot of ingenuity on my part.
I like writing. I get cranky when I can't. Yes, I write books back to back, and I work very hard on them.
I actually started writing publishable stuff the day I decided I'd actually like to write something I'd like to read, and stopped trying to think what does everyone actually want.
I write a song to be recorded. And to some extent to be performed, but definitely more to be recorded than performed, because the recording will last longer than a performance.
Being able to write an idea down succinctly doesn't make that idea any better than one which rambles on a bit. It just comes to the point sooner.
I'm of the school 'Write what you know.' You can educate yourself, but the best writing usually comes from the heart.
I knew what book we had to write, it was clear in my head; it was journals and poetry. So I passed on their offer. I told my agent this is our vision, and no one's done it this way.
The Indian diaspora is a wonderful place to write from, and I am lucky to be part of it.
I took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote children's stories. She was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that I kept handing in, but she finally asked in exasperation, 'Can't you write anything normal?'
Quite a lot of people wanted me to write about my family, I suppose for fairly obvious reasons, and there was always something that would stop me, I thought they were asking me for the wrong motives.
Part of the reason I wanted to write a novel was that in fiction I could do something that's difficult to do in real life, which is to dwell on the stark details of the experience without really needing to create that narrative of redemption.
I can write anywhere. But I don't use a computer, and I could never write on a laptop. I hate the sound of computers; it's too dull, like it's not doing anything for you.
The old idea of a composer suddenly having a terrific idea and sitting up all night to write it is nonsense. Nighttime is for sleeping.
I don't like to use writing assignments, exercises. I think too often people get comfortable writing in that vein, but you can't go on to write a novel comprised of short writing exercises.
But I always seem to finish a book and then think, oh God, I've got to pay a tax bill, so I'd better write a novel, so I tend not to stop and learn word processing.
I just try to write the best story I can, a story I would love to read, and hope that readers feel the same.
I was initially planning to write about grief in terms of Eurydice and the myth thereof. By that point the overall metaphor of height and depth and flat and falling and rising was coming into being in my mind.
I think I wanted to write a book about the relationship between the victim and perpetrator in which the victim agrees to remain silent.
I flip the turntables. I write a lot from the male perspective, but as a female. That's how I live my life. I can roll with the boys.
I guess what people forget sometimes is that when I write songs, I write them sometimes in about 20 minutes.
I don't just write letters. I write laws.
The way I write is totally instinctive. I just write what I feel or what I find funny - and hope everyone else agrees.
I'm a huge fan of comedy. I write material whenever I can.
I write in the morning, I walk in the afternoon and I read in the evening. It's a very easy, lovely life.
Early on, it's good to develop the ability to write. Learning to write is a useful exercise, even if what you're writing about is not that relevant.
I never discuss a novel while I'm writing it, for fear that talking about it will diminish my desire to write it.
Well, I think that when you direct a movie or write it. And in the case of the two movies I did, I wrote and directed, they occupy a special place for you.
