Berlie Doherty Quotes

To be publishing Stephen King, to be a friend to Stephen, when he is absolutely what got me into this business, is a really neat thing and something I don't take for granted.

A novel I read when I was about 17 or 18 - 'The World According to Garp,' by John Irving - really made me want to become a writer. The character of Garp is a novelist, and at the time, the whole lifestyle of being a writer was hugely appealing to me.

This first print run of the first edition of my first novel, 'When The Lion Feeds.' back in 1964, is so rare it can fetch several thousand pounds at auction. I always wanted to be an author, and I decided to write about what I knew.

Marguerite Duras was a very good friend of mine and an intellectual hero. She was also a sort of mother figure. Of course she was an influence.

I love Joan Didion, but I love her writing. I don't think meeting her could solve my problems or make me understand the world better.

I really looked up to Tina Fey as a writer, and because I did have a background in writing, she is someone whose career I really did admire.

Whenever anyone calls me 'The new J..K. Rowling,' I think, 'What's wrong with the old one?'

I love Dave Eggers. I hate Dave Eggers. If I could become any other living writer, I would answer faster than anyone else in the room, 'Dave Eggers.'

I've been very lucky. I've written for most of my idols and the contemporaries.

Writers are not celebrities, so you don't expect to walk down the street and hear, 'Oh my God, there's Sylvia Day.' You prefer to be anonymous.

I'm always so inspired by Jeff Eastin's writing.

Liz Benedict, a teacher of mine at Iowa, is the person who introduced me to James Salter's work.

I want to leave behind a literary legacy.

There were authors I read as an adult who completely inspired me. But when I was a teenager, I got to hang out with Tom Stoppard for a bit. My mum was his wife's secretary. He was obviously super smart, but he was also approachable and normal. I think he was the first person I'd ever met who I'd thought, 'Oh, I see. There's a living in this.'

I've only had four ideas for a novel in my life, and I've written all of them.

For every Steven King, there are a dozen guys like me who make a good living. For every David Brin, there are a dozen authors who have managed to make it their day job. For each of them, there are a dozen more for whom writing is a terrific supplement.

He's Bobby Orr - he's been through it all. Whatever he says, you listen. If you ask a question, you're dying to hear the answer, trying to figure out any piece of information that made him successful.

The first time I saw J.K. Rowling, I was sitting across from her at the 'Fantastic Beasts' table read, and I was just amazed by how wonderful she is in person.

I always grew up with the idea that in order to be a successful writer, I should have a book published.

You don't sit there at twenty-five, unpublished, inexperienced, and respond to Susan Sontag's editorial suggestions like a little snot, rejecting every one of them. But it had a lot to do with the fact that I didn't admire Susan's own fiction.

Samuel Beckett. He is a kind of hero for me.

'Fallen Too Far' was my first NYT bestseller. That changed my life.

I grew up reading Updike. I remember being alarmed to find that he had published short stories by the time he was 22. I think 'Pigeon Feathers' was the first collection of stories I read. Only much later did I discover his non-fiction reviewing and art criticism.

I published 'Rules of Civility' while I was still working. It became a best seller. I was working on this book, and then I decided to retire.

When your Dad was the creator of 'Moby Dick' you kind of steer clear of getting compared in a solo-ing aspect.