Truman Capote Quotes

Do not start a story unless you have an ending in mind. You can change the story's ending if you wish, but you should always have a destination.

As far as personal philosophies go, I think you should know your ending. I know that's radically different from a lot of other writers who just organically like to find the story. Other than that, I try different things and mess around. I'm still just playing a good bit.

I started writing stories in my spare time.

It's always easiest for me as a writer if I know I have a great ending. It can make everything else work. If you don't have a good ending, it's the hardest things in the world to come up with one. I always loved the ending of 'The Kite Runner,' and the scenes that are most faithful to the book are the last few scenes.

If I can tell you the story from beginning to end in five minutes, I'm ready to start writing.

The Hollywood stuff in the book tended to come later. I think it was because I was worried about leading with that stuff. I wanted to try to make sure that the other stories in the book were as interesting. I wanted to spend more time on them and craft them. The thing is, with writing, it's form or content.

Don’t try to write a novel. Write short stories and then figure out how to connect them.

I enjoy writing scripts. I can find out what happens. With an outline, I feel like I'm doing an architectural diagram of something.

When I start to write, I see my stories as a kind of movie. For instance, I ask myself, "What kind of opening do I want for this book?"

The older I get and the more fiction I write, the more I outline, the more I think about plot before I dive in and plunge too far.

I do write a lot of prose. It's not disciplined enough yet that it's actually become stories, or short stories. The idea of writing a novel seems impossible.

Every story teaches me how to write it. Unfortunately, it doesn't teach me how to write the next one.

I write any sort of rubbish which will cover the main outlines of the story, then I can begin to see it.

Once you play with these scenes and you're outlining it, again and again, and telling each other the narrative, and telling it to people you know, trying to make sure that the mathematics of the story work, you feel that those are in place, and the actual writing and final draft doesn't take as long.

Writing a short story is like having a short intense affair, whereas writing a novel is like a long rich marriage.

I have written a great many stories and I still don't know how to go about it except to write it and take my chances.

When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it - rather, I am remembering a story that has already happened.

The first sentence cant be written until the final sentence is written.

If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden.

I think everything we do, on one level or another, as writers, most of our writing is informed by our world view.

I don't always write in order, so composing multi-book stories could get complicated.

I got into writing because books and stories were always a big part of my life. I loved listening to them and then reading them, and I loved making them up.

The written word is the basic of everything. Most important, the idea, and after that, the dialogue. You can rehash the dialogue as you go along, it 's disgraceful to have to do this, but now and again you have no choice.

The laws of literary creation are unique; they don't change, and they are the same for everyone everywhere. I mean that you can tell a story that covers three hours of human life or three centuries - it comes to the same thing. Each writer who creates something authentic in a natural way instinctively also creates the technique that suits him.

Every day, I learn something new. I think one of the most exciting things for a writer is to work on a TV show. It's like a novel. You have a really long time to develop and learn about the characters, and you can just really keep digging in deeper, every week.