Junot Diaz Quotes

I write what I write.

I love to write. I used to be a math teacher. And I like the idea that other people could write about the same subjects, but no one would write it just the way I do. It's very individual: a child could write the same story as somebody else, but it wouldn't come out the same.

Nothing beats novel writing because it's complete expression of you. You just control everything. Not even a movie director has that level of control.

I'm not one of those authors who claims to hear voices in my head or 'let the characters speak through me,' whatever that might mean.

I write my books never thinking of an actor.

In the most self-protective of ways, I don't think about the reader when I'm writing - I just think about the story.

I can't imagine directing from someone else's script.

I prefer writing originals.

Call me the author.

When I do 'Sweet Tooth,' really, whatever I want to do with the characters kind of goes. I'm sort of in charge.

I love the writing. I love the idea of typing and seeing it on the computer and printing it out myself and, you know, moving sentences around. I like that.

I tell the stories that are of interest to me.

As a writer, you have to first of all write what you want to. Listen to advice, by all means, but don't get bogged down in it.

I'm a novelist. I'm not a crusader, and I'm not an editorial writer. And I'm not writing fiction to convince anybody of anything.

When you write a novel, you never have to be in the service of the reader. My only concern with my books is that the world that's created be as logical and whole as possible.

I just write what I want to write.

It's hard, because when you talk about process or your characters ruling your narrative, it sounds like you have no control, but obviously you're ultimately the author, so you do have control.

I think the only way you can become a writer is through honing your voice, creating your own voice.

When I write a novel, every word is mine. I welcome suggestions from my editor, but in the end, I make all the final decisions.

When the narrative itself starts knocking on the glassed-in box that was your prescription for how you were going to write this novel... you have to listen to it.

When I write a novel, I am God at my own typewriter, and there is nobody in between. But when I write a screenplay, it must be a compromise because there are so many elements which are outside the writer's province.

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.

The writer can choose what he writes about but he cannot choose what he is able to make live.

Writing novels is where I'm most comfortable. It's a very intimate experience.

Different authors write different ways, have different relationships with their audiences, and those are all legitimate.