Mitch Albom Quotes

Imagination, it turns out, is a great deal like reporting in your own head. Here is a paradox of fiction-writing. You are crafting something from nothing, which means, in one sense, that none of it is true. Yet in the writing, and perhaps in the reading, some of a character's actions or lines are truer than others.

I like to write about a lot of things, which is why my books are different. This is probably why I don't like to write sequels, but chiefly I like to write about people.

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 love a well-plotted story. But I'm just not that kind of writer, and it's not necessarily by choice. When I manipulate plot, I feel I lose authenticity.

When you do fiction, it is your imagination you have put out there.

Authors make stuff up. Let's not pretend it's any more magical than that.

There's a huge distance between who I am as a regular person and what takes place in my fiction.

I try not to repeat a story. I try not to repeat an emotion. I want it to be all sort of new for the viewers and to challenge myself as a writer, so there's always pressure. What else can you come up with?

When I write, I try to capture one of those pivotal moments. If I succeed, I have shifted the reader's view of the world, just a little. The character is not the only one to experience change. That is my job, shifting perceptions, one story at a time. The trouble is, I don't like writing. But I love having written.

When you write fiction, you have an ideal reader in your mind who's sort of you but smarter.

Fans want to see a story with characters, and they want to see a story.

Writing for me is not a premeditated act. It just happens - characters keep coming out of nowhere and doing things I never expected them to do. The most persistent and most productive of these has been Paul Christopher, whom I didn't expect to see again after he appeared in 'The Miernik Dossier.'

I'm mostly a novelist these days, but I have written short stories in Fantasy, Science Fiction and horror.

A great danger, or at least a great temptation, for many writers is to become too autobiographical in their approach to their fiction. A little autobiography and a lot of imagination are best.

I like to sit down every day and not know where the book is going. I have no idea where the book is going to go or how it's going to end as I'm writing it.

To be a dramatic writer takes hard work, talent, and discipline. And that's why I just make up crap.

It's with bad sentiments that one makes good novels.

For any writers at all, read everything you can and then put your butt in the chair and write. That's all there is to it.

I write what I'd like to read and just hope that, along the way, others might like to read them, too.

The characters emerge from my rather twisted mind. That's another enjoyable part of the job making stuff up.

I am never not thinking about stories. 'The Bone Season' is 90% of my brain - 10% is interacting with the rest of the world.

I went to a seminar early in my career on the craft of storytelling by Robert McKee. It was really life altering. There are basic principles on how to craft an engaging story and he covers them well. He's got a book out, 'Story,' that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in improve their storytelling.

I learnt to love reading. And then I started scribbling stories, and I liked that even more.

I like to be surprised. Fresh implications and plot twists erupt as a story unfolds. Characters develop backgrounds, adding depth and feeling. Writing feels like exploring.

As fiction writers, we are entertainers.