Ann Patchett Quotes

All my books are accidental books - they come from reacting to things and thinking about things and engaging in a real way. They are not about, 'Oh, did it get a good review in the Guardian?' I don't care.

I don't really write for an audience. I just write what the subject seems to me to require.

Write what you like; there is no other rule.

You can try to reach an audience, but you just write what comes out of you and you just hope that it is accepted. You do not write specifically to a generation.

As a writer, it's important to stay true to your story without giving a hoot about publishers, critics and readers. You should do your karma as an author the way you want to, and rest is up to God.

As a novelist, you have to be free. Books can't be an act of filial duty.

When my writing really started to take off was when I made a decision that I would write only what I wanted to write, and if 10 people wanted to hear it, that's fine.

I never have an intended audience. I just write, you know.

I really think that if there's any one enemy to human creativity, especially creative writing, its self-consciousness. And if you have one eye on the mirror to see how you're doing, you're not doing it as well as you can. Don't think about publishing, don't think about editors, don't think about marketplace.

I believe that, in an ideal world, writers would feel free to write what matters to them without having to consider success, failure, the market, etc.

I've always written in a free, unencumbered way.

My writing is jagged and harsh, I want it to remain that way; I don't want it smoothed out.

Most of the things I write, I write on spec. And because I write them on spec, there's less interference. Because there's less interference, they tend to be better.

I just write the stuff that comes out of me, and then after that, I try to get it made. But I don't think, 'Will I get the money?' and 'Who's this made for?'

Really I've just gotta be making really great music that I love and not worrying too much about what other people are gonna think about it.

I don't do 'political correctness,' whatever that means. I write the stories I want to write, featuring the characters I want to feature. I don't touch demographic bases to appease this group or that. I write what I want. Full stop.

It's probably simply a matter of temperament that I never stopped to wonder if I could "match" what I had done, never choked off my writing by competing with myself, or with anybody else for that matter. My ambition was absolutely centered on the work itself, never on what it would bring me, or "who" it would make me. I never cared about that at all.

When I'm writing, I am lost in my book. Except family and close friends, I don't care about what critics, publishers or readers might think.

I remember thinking during those times that I wanted to write in a way where there are no rules.

No, I don't make my work in order to challenge or confuse other people's expectations - I only do what I find natural.

I don't make films to win prizes. I make films to make films.

I just write what comes along. I don't have a detailed master plan.

I don't set out to write about spirituality; I am free to do something different every time.

When you sit down to write something, there should be no guidelines. The main idea is not supposed to be, 'How many different ways can we sell it?' That's so far away from the true spirit of what music is.

I'm lucky enough to exist in 2018, where I have a record label that's like, 'Write whatever you want to write.' I don't have to hide anything.