Tess Gerritsen Quotes

Writers are magpies by nature, always collecting shiny things, storing them away and looking for connections of things.

I tell my writing students that everything is material; just pay attention.

I'm ever curious about the world. I'm driven to go out and find new things to write about. Having a vivid imagination is also a plus.

At all times, think like a writer, and keep those antennae twitching - that way, you pick up new ideas.

I'm inspired by almost everything I come across in life, and one way or another they find themselves sneaking into my stories.

I'm nosey, and I have a great imagination. So it's not necessarily things I have to go through, but it's things people I know or my family is going through, and I hear about it, and I think, 'That sounds like a great song.'

I enjoy looking beyond the obvious and look at the stories happening all around me - you kind of formulate things in your mind and get excited about them.

Well, you know, writers just suck up new experiences - we're just like the vacuum cleaners of newness.

The most important thing is to live an interesting life. Keep your eyes, ears and heart open. Talk to people and visit interesting places, and don't forget to ask questions. To be a writer you need to drink in the world around you so it's always there in your head.

Inspiration comes from everywhere. From life, observing people, etc. From movies and books you love. From research.

I don't know whether I have ideas all the time. I think I'm curious about things all the time; I think I'm always curious, and I think I'm always interested in whatever passes by, and I know I tend to think about things, and I tend to talk about things, and sometimes that takes root and gives me something to chase.

I get ideas for my books from people I know and what happens to them, from places I've been and what happens to me, and from things I read.

I like to write books where I get a question on the radio, and I don't have an answer for it.

So, the combination of looking at lots of different people and how they react to each other and how they relate to each other and waiting for that inspiration is the thing that allows me to keep writing.

I always tell my students, 'If you walk around with your eyes and ears open, you can't possibly live long enough to write all the novels you'll encounter.'

It's not just that reporting gives you a bigger slice of life, gives - lends verisimilitude to what you are doing - it's that it feeds the imagination.

I always have a notebook with me, I eavesdrop; I write down what people say. It's very rare that one of those things will provoke a story, but I think that that kind of paying attention all the time, and keeping everything open, lets the stories come in. But where they come from is still a mystery to me.

I'm a big people watcher and a people talker. The beautiful thing about being an artist and a creative person is that you can get an idea from anywhere, and I'm always on the hunt for them.

As a writer, you look for inspiration wherever you can get it.

I look for stories everywhere.

I truly find inspiration everywhere. I always tell students, and young people starting out, that the single most important skill, next to listening, is to pay attention. You never know where inspiration will strike.

My biggest source of inspiration is listening to people's conversations. I'm a big eavesdropper.

There is no right or wrong way to tell a story. You have to find your own way. You can get your idea from listening, looking, or imagining. Stories are everywhere. All you have to do is pay attention.

I'm not particularly inventive. If you left me in а room and told me to write a novel, I wouldn't be able to do it. But if you gave me two years in a public library around the corner, I could. It all comes from sort of mixing the true and the invented. I'm not a fabulist. I'm more of a reporter.

How did I come to be an artist ? Endless curiosity, observation, research - and a great amount of joy in the thing