I actually didn't listen to the Beatles song 'Nowhere Man' when I was writing my book of the same name. What I listened to a lot was 'Abbey Road. ' Its disjointedness and its readiness to confuse only to delight were inspiring to me.
I'm having bigger problems when I'm writing.
Adam Ezra writes with the heart of a troubadour and sings like a rock star. He is truely a fresh voice in singersongwriter scene.
I always tell my writing students that every good piece of writing begins with both a mystery and a love story. And that every single sentence must be a poem. And that economy is the key to all good writing. And that every character has to have a secret.
I have a hard time writing. Most writers have a hard time writing. I have a harder time than most because I'm lazier than most. I don't want to brag, but I'm the laziest person I have ever known.
Start writing sooner. Don't wait for permission. Don't hesitate.
A language is the appearances of connections therefore language as in writing doesn't express anything: it creates.
When you look back on a historical period of music, it seems so obvious to you what the characteristics of it are, but they're not obvious at the time. So, when I look back at my own work, I could easily write a very convincing sort of account of it that made it look like I had planned it all out from day one and that this led logically to that and then I did this and then that followed quite naturally from that. But that's not how it felt.
I was just this chubby little Indian kid who looked like a nerd. I didn't have a ton of academic skills. It wasn't until I was in high school that I was like, "I guess I like writing dialogue. " So that's how I got into it.
I don't want to hear at all what the artist thinks about his art. And I'm not writing for the artist. I'm writing for the reader, and I want to tell the reader what I think.
You've got to write for your audience.
I love to read nonfiction and memoir, but I'm mostly interested in the piece of writing more than the person.
I am deeply sensitive to the spell of nationalism. I can play about thirty Bohemian folk songs. . . on my mouth-organ. My oldest friend, who is Czech and a patriot, cannot bear to hear me play them because he says I do it in such a schmalzy way, 'crying into the mouth organ'. I do not think I could have written the book on nationalism which I did write, were I not capable of crying, with the help of a little alcohol, over folk songs, which happen to be my favourite form of music.
A writer judging his own work is like deceived husband - he is frequently the last person to appreciate the true state of affairs.
Music inspires me and puts me in the right mood, but to actually listen to it when I write - I find it gets in the way.
I didn't have the time to literally write and draw the strip at the same time.
If I wasn't an actor, I would probably be writing or doing something with psychology.
To me, it's all about the song. Songs are what make me excited. You hear a great song and you want to record it or get a great idea and you want to write it.
Writing isn't just a job that stops at six thirty. . . It's a mad, sexy, sad, scary, ruthless, joyful, and utterly, utterly personal thing. There's not the writer and then me; there's just me. All of my life connects to the writing. All of it.
Dialogue that is written in dialect is very tiring to read. If you can do it brilliantly, fine. If other writers read your work and rave about your use of dialect, go for it. But be positive that you do it well, because otherwise it is a lot of work to read short stories or novels that are written in dialect. It makes our necks feel funny.
