Alan Ball Quotes

The great thing about being a novelist is that you organize your own day.

I've always wanted to be a writer ever since I was in kindergarten, so that was ultimately what I wanted to do with my life.

I've wanted to write ever since I've gotten into comics. I wrote little things for myself when I was doing mini-comics and things, before becoming a professional. But I just figure at some point or another, I've got to make the leap. I just have to do it.

I've always been a writer, and in high school, I was the editor of my school newspaper and I got a writing scholarship. It's always been a passion of mine.

So, how to stay inside the world of entertainment without actually getting another job? I felt the only logical answer was to become a novelist. So I wrote the first book - driven by some very real feelings of desperation - and it worked.

Being an author is fun. It's a great job, because I can stay up as late as I want, and if I feel like taking the day off, I do it. Plus, I get to make up silly stories and draw pictures all day.

What's the challenge in writing a novel that few people will read? I'm more than happy writing what I do and have no plans to change that.

Most of all, I love being a storyteller. And yes, I want to make a good living, but I'm not always driven by the best commercial sense.

I always was going to be a writer. The other jobs were just to keep me in food. Though I enjoyed the archaeology.

You write a story, you do a TV show, and if people don't like it, well, you're going to do it again tomorrow.

Persistence is half the battle. That's what I love about independent movies. They don't have to be made. There's no studio with an agenda to set up a franchise like 'Batman' or to make a vehicle for a celebrity actor. My films are made because I love the process.

I got it into my head that I was going to be starring in movies that I wrote, so that's what I did. I stopped acting in all things, and I wrote my first script, which was optioned a week after I finished it.

I'd always loved to read - and come from a family of readers - but I never thought about writing as a career.

To make great movies, there is an element of risk. You have to say, 'Well, I am going to make this film, and it is not really a sure thing.'

I instantly chucked my academic ambitions and began writing fiction full-time.

Late night is no different than making a film, really, except that it's faster, and if you do a crap one, you can do a better one tomorrow. Writing a novel and doing stand-up - that stuff is very similar.

I write poetry anyway and have for years and years. For me, putting fiction and poetry together is like the best of both worlds.

If I did anything 'next', I would do writing.

I always had this non-stop drive. I had to keep sending stories out and every once in awhile I'd get something accepted or get the little trickle of positive feedback.

For a novelist, the great thing about the Stone Age people is that we know virtually nothing about their beliefs - which means that I get to make it up! But it's still got to be plausible.

I wrote for years before I was ever published, and I don't think I could ever stop. That said, I was also a veterinarian before I sold my first book, and I still volunteer my time to help with animal welfare causes. So that is a career I would be happy to return to - while still secretly writing strange stories back in my doctor's office.

I love telling stories and I love writing so the fact that I can do it professionally is something that I've always been very grateful for.

The great liberty of the fictional writer is to let the imagination out of the traces and see it gallop off over the horizon.

Fiction is very important to me. It's what I do, it's what I do with my life.

The great thing about animation is it's like the radio. I used to do lots of radio when I was a kid, and you get to play parts you would never get to play ordinarily.