Darin Strauss Quotes

I would like to write a book that wasn't so violent and weird, but I just don't think I can do that with my talent. I don't think it would come off.

I like novelists who can create other interesting worlds.

Novelists have always had complete freedom to pretty much tell their story any way they saw fit. And that's what I'm trying to do.

If you are a good writer - and I think I am - you are able to handle any kind of group and imagine their lives.

A good writer is always a people watcher.

Tricker the Squirrel is the best piece I ever wrote. It's intricate.

Like all novelists, I'm interested in the filters between reality and the imagination.

I don't know if Jim was a major part of that or not. He is one of a small group of real storytellers. He has enormous imagination and ability to write. I'm glad he's coming back. It's going to be good for the show.

But basically, I'm trying to write a fun story.

I think I've written 40 books, and none of them have been heavy on action. I'm an introspective person.

I sort of love reading the scripts and going, 'Oh wow, what a great idea. I never would have thought of that.'

The thing I am attracted to is just good writing and stories that are based somewhat in reality.

I'm here to get the story on to the page. It would be good to catch your attention, and I have to make you want to read on, and I suppose I prefer you don't actually think about the 'how' at all - the writing technique, the 'style', or even who it is that's putting this together.

Stephen King has inspired me with his humor and honesty, and his admonition that the author's job is to tell the truth.

Of course, all writers draw upon their personal experiences in describing day-to-day life and human relationships, but I tend to keep my own experiences largely separate from my stories.

I have no favourite genre or style but treat each novel with the same care, imagination and craftsmanship. It's as difficult to write a crime or a children's novel with a touch of style and grace as it is a literary novel.

Short stories are fiction's R & D department, and failed or less-than-conclusive experiments are not just to be expected but to be hoped for.

There was a time when I read a script and I just got excited about the possibilities.

I learnt to love reading. And then I started scribbling stories, and I liked that even more.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.

There are many reasons why novelists write, but they all have one thing in common - a need to create an alternative world.

Anthony Powell taught me to write; he has such brilliant control of the mechanics of the novel.

The novels take longer to write than the picture book texts, and they do take a different sort of concentration. However, a very short, simple story that works well is just as exciting to me as any longer and more complex book.

My fiction-writing DNA shows in how I think about prose, how I think about the page, how I think nonfiction stories should work. And every piece of nonfiction I write, I want it to have fictional texture.

In terms of fiction, I'd rather go out and have a good time than read a book about someone having a good or bad time.