Louis Begley Quotes

I've always wanted to be a writer. Ever since I learned to read, I've wanted to share stories with others the way my favorite writers shared their stories with me.

I discovered that writing was very nice indeed when I was very young, and I never changed. I don't think my style has changed very much at all - though I hope what I say is a bit more interesting. It's about getting to know a character and loving them, I think.

Once I had all the facts in, I found I didn't have the immoral courage to pull the caper. So I wrote it as a story. As a teenager, I didn't have any skills for writing as such, so it came out in 1500 words.

After a while, you start to realize that you should write a book you would want to read. I try to write a book I would enjoy.

I tell people you should write what you love to read because that's where your passion is.

I want to write more, because I think I've got a story to tell.

A writer doesn't write about just anything. He writes about things he has an affinity for.

I've always been a writer. I hope to continue to write books until I can't anymore.

I'm open to writing just about anything. I love writing the books that I write. They do tend to be on dark subjects, but I don't think of myself necessarily as a dark-humored person. I like having a lot of fun.

I'm way into writing, as much as I can.

All my friends who wanted to write had got nowhere trying to write the great European novel. So I deliberately steered clear of that and set out to write something story-led.

You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.

I enjoy it too much - even if I knew I'd never get a book published, I would still write. I enjoy the experience of getting thoughts and ideas and plots and characters organised into this narrative framework.

And there are people who want to be writers because they love to write. And they care.

I always knew I wanted to be a writer.

Write the best book you can, the one that demands to be written, no matter what genre it is. Even a trend the trades tell you has gone stale can be revitalized by a superb piece of writing. It'll never be revitalized by someone jumping on a trend bandwagon.

I love writing books - I really do. If I could just quit everything and work on a book every day, I would love that most.

If I ever wrote a book, people would never believe it.

I'm a compulsive storyteller, an avid reader, and have always nurtured the secret goal of spending my life as a writer.

I'm not sure if I always wanted to be a writer, but I was always writing.

I was always writing the books that I wanted to write, books that demanded to be written at the time. But, like most writers, you start off feeling your way.

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

I was one of those kids who always wrote.

I have a really good idea for a novel and would like to just kind of try my hand at fiction. I'm starting to kind of get a really good body of work going from a literary standpoint. As long as the audience is there, man, I'll keep cranking them out.

Neophyte writers tend to believe that there is something magical about ideas and that if they can just get a hold of a good one, then their futures are ensured.