Martin McDonagh Quotes

I found some time ago that I have to be careful, while working on a novel, what I read.

When you're writing fiction or poetry... it really comes down to this: indifference to everything except what you're doing... A young writer could do worse than follow the advice given in those lines.

If you're writing a novel, you're in a room for three or four years. There's not much coming in from the outside.

Every day I fantasise about situations and little themes I see in front of me that would make a good beginning of a story. But one has to be disciplined and just sit down and do it.

Not intending to be funny: I sit at the keyboard, put my fingers on the keys and go. To me, it's the real secret of writing. Put yourself in front of the screen or the blank sheet of paper and get to work.

I can write all the way through the morning, when my mind is clear, and there are no distractions.

I write about two hours a day, and I write in fits and spurts - 45 minutes here, a half-hour there - and when I get stuck, which happens often, I take the dogs for a walk. But during the time when I'm not actually writing, I'm thinking.

To say that I have an undisciplined mind would not be incorrect overall, but it's a little off the mark because I have great discipline when I write - but only for about ten minutes.

I write anywhere - when I have an idea, it's hard not to write. I used to be kind of precious about where I wrote. Everything had to be quiet and I couldn't be disturbed; it really filled my day.

If I didn't see its place in the Saga when I planned it, I probably wouldn't write it at all.

It makes it harder to write if I watch a lot of television, because television is not like a written story.

I should be concentrating on writing pages.

When I am working on a book or a story, I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you, and it is cool or cold, and you come to your work and warm as you write.

I'm a fictional monogamist - I can only work on one thing at a time - but each novel starts growing in my head when I'm about midway through the previous novel.

When I'm working on one book, part of my imagination is thinking ahead to the next one.

When I lock myself up to write, I cannot allow myself to think about the censor or the reviewer or anyone but my characters and their story!

Rarely does a complete idea come to me. I basically start with just a small scene or a snatch of dialogue and force myself to write and to keep writing. Sometimes it becomes a book.

I don't write listening to music, and in a way it seems silly that any writer should have to explain why not, as it's possibly no different from saying you don't eat gourmet dinners or play tennis while you're at the keyboard.

A typewriter forces you to keep going, to march forward.

I never listen to music when I write. It's too much of a distraction.

I'm often asked how I get ideas for my stories. The answer is there's no single way; every story is different.

I keep my options open about my next story, there will always be those vague discussions at home.

I just write from dawn to dusk.

In the end, you have to just sit down, shut up, and write.

Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.