John Dunne Quotes

I didn't have a desk to write 'Red Queen' on, so I got a nice writing desk.

You know, it's hard work to write a book. I can't tell you how many times I really get going on an idea, then my quill breaks. Or I spill ink all over my writing tunic.

It is as easy to dream a book as it is hard to write one.

Writing a book isn’t an easy process nor is it always enjoyable, but it is one of life’s most satisfying achievements.

All my books were easy to write - doesn't it show?

I find writing really hard, but then, every author I know finds writing really hard work.

Books arrive in my head all at once, and then it becomes an 18-month process of getting it all down on paper.

'The Rose Society' was definitely the hardest book I've ever written, because it's so difficult to stay in that dark space.

I think 'Hollow City' only took a year and a half to write... but it felt like two and a half!

Writing a book is not easy.

Writing a book is so much harder than I imagined.

During every book, I have a nervous breakdown. Usually it's about two thirds of the way through the book - I'm just comatose on the couch for at least a week, and I eventually break through it and have an answer about how to fix the thing.

If you think about writing a book, or when I did, it seems daunting, but when I began writing, it just started flowing.

The first book is the book you have to write to get back at your parents; the book you always had in you. Once you get that out of your way, you can start writing books.

It's hard to find a book that's safe to write. Because one always goes to dark or difficult places.

Writing a book I have found to be like building a house. A man forms a plan, and collects materials.

In a way I do hate the process of writing. It's like learning a role where you never think you're going to be able to conquer it when you start and it just takes enough focus and narrowing and getting enthusiastic and not losing it and so on. It's never good enough, but you aim for something and you hope it comes somewhat close. But it is a pleasure once you have written it.

No two books come out the same way. Some I write by the seat of my pants; others are planned in minute detail.

Every time I start on a new book, I am a beginner again. I doubt myself, I grow discouraged, all the work accomplished in the past is as though it never was, my first drafts are so shapeless that it seems impossible to go on with the attempt at all, right up until the moment - always imperceptible, there, too, there is a break - when it is has become impossible not to finish it.

Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor.

I began to write when I was seven, and I have been writing off and on ever since. It is still off and on. You can say that when I am on, when I know I have a book which I am going to write, then I write two thousand words a day. That's so many pages longhand.

I read my own books sometimes to cheer me when it is hard to write, and then I remember that it was always difficult, and how nearly impossible it was sometimes.

When you set down the path to create art, whatever sort of art it is, understand that the path is neither short not easy. That means you must determine if the route is worth the effort. If it's not, dream bigger.

One of the things I have come up against time and again in my career is the notion that because a book is easy to read it was somehow easy to write.

Writing a book is like an unknown abyss, every time. Every book is different. Contrary to what unpublished writers think, it's horrible to have a book out.