Greg Kurstin Quotes

I like to have a title before I start writing.

Don't write outlines; I hate outlines.

I spend a lot of time outlining before I write the first word.

The writing process, it's too mysterious to try and describe.

I'm a big fan of outlining. Here's the theory: If I outline, then I can see the mistakes I'm liable to make. They come out more clearly in the outline than they do in the pages.

I am a big proponent of writing a great outline. That way you can avoid hitting a roadblock. There is no worse feeling than writing yourself into a corner but if you've figured it all out in the outline then you won't have that problem.

I don't have a plan for a story when I sit down to write. I would get quite bored carrying it out.

By the time I sit down ready to write, I've done a lot of longhand and a lot of note collecting along the way.

Even if you plan your book, the actual writing is unplanned.

I always work from an outline.

The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.

I have never written anything in one draft, not even a grocery list, although I have heard from friends that this is actually possible.

Outlining is not writing. Coming up with ideas is not writing. Researching is not writing. Creating characters is not writing. Only writing is writing.

I used to be an obsessive outliner - figuring that writing without an outline was like jumping off a cliff and building a parachute on the way down.

I write everything out in longhand in one fast go. And then I throw out the first few and start over again. By the end of the first draft, the whole thing's messy and disgusting and horrible, but you really understand the foundational stuff.

I try to write an essay every time I speak.

The writing process is the time where nothing's been set in stone. It's a blank slate, or a blank page.

You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page.

The best time to plan a book is while you're doing the dishes.

The outline is 95 percent of the book. Then I sit down and write, and that's the easy part.

Basically I started to jot notes, lots of faxes back and forth to my writer, we faxed ideas throughout the whole first draft, and started all over again.

The research is the easiest. The outline is the most fun. The first draft is the hardest, because every word of the outline has to be fleshed out. The rewrite is very satisfying.

It doesn't always happen according to the way you have planned things out but I feel if you have covered most of the aspects, it does help out there in the middle.

My writing process is very organic. I start with an idea. I have the general story arc and the cast. But then I sit down to write, and things change.

I'm one of those writers who tends to be really good at making outlines and sticking to them. I'm very good at doing that, but I don't like it. It sort of takes a lot of the fun out.