Geraldine McCaughrean Quotes

I do not think writers ought ever to sit down and think they must write about some cause, or theme, or something. If they write about their own experiences, something true is going to emerge.

Novel-writing is the only place where someone who would have liked to do anything can still do that vicariously.

I think my characters are more wish fulfillments than they are mirrors. They see things I don't and live in a world I can only enter through words.

That's why I love being a writer. My imagination can take me places I may never see except in my mind's eye.

Nothing beats novel writing because it's complete expression of you. You just control everything. Not even a movie director has that level of control.

I think that the practice of writing every day was what made me remember that writing doesn't have anything to do with publishing books. It can be totally separate and private - a comforting thought.

If I haven't any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well, then I can always write for myself.

I get to use fiction as a way to work out my thinking and to delight readers in the process. I can't think of any deal that's better for me, and I'm always so grateful that readers have indulged me as I argue with myself in my stories.

There is a certain joy in telling a story, and it gives me great pleasure to be a part of the process from scratch and say it the way I want to.

What I like about writing novels is that I'm in my own world for nine months.

I like to live in my own mind, regardless of everyone and everything, working out the intimate puzzles that are my stories and novels.

I do not believe that with a fictional character you can force yourself too far away from yourself. There has to be some of you in it.

When I write, I operate as a writer and a reader both - I never know what's going to happen.

My novels come from within me; they are things I feel I want to do.

The essays are very solipsistic and self-absorbed, I'm totally conscious of that. To me, book writing is fun, and I basically just write about things that are entertaining to myself.

I throw everything I have into whatever story I'm writing - and so there's something immensely gratifying about finishing one piece and then starting fresh with a new setting, time period and cast of characters, getting to see the world through a completely different lens each time.

I prefer writing originals.

I'm an escapist kind of writer.

Writing novels preserves you in a state of innocence - a lot passes you by - simply because your attention is otherwise diverted.

When I decide to write a story, I don't think too much about what I want it to be, I just let things come naturally and this is how it turns out. It's just how my subconscious works.

For me, writing isn't a way of being public or private; it's just a way of being. The process is always full of pain, but I like that. It's a reality, and I just accept it as something not to be avoided.

I guess I could say that I pursue questions that interest me in ways that interest me on the page, but that's awfully vague.

I tell the stories that are of interest to me.

I just want to sit in my room and write books.

I was well traveled, and I created this illusion of literacy through reading and writing. I wrote a book of short stories.