Jhumpa Lahiri Quotes

I'm a novelist, so I can't write about ideas unless they're attached to people.

I find it an easy way into writing pieces is to think what the character's voice is like, and start from there.

I love writing letters. In order to write a novel in first person, I think I needed an addressee.

A novel is a work of poetry. In order to write it, one must have tranquility of spirit and of impression.

Usually, when I write a novel, it takes me about 100 pages to figure out the voice of the narrator.

I have no problems or issues with screenwriting in general.

That's the novelist's job: to peel back the layers and look underneath.

Your source material is the people you know, not those you don't know, but every character is an extension of the author's own personality.

Writers often say that characters begin to write themselves, and I never used to believe that. I always thought that was complete hogwash.

I've written short stories from male perspectives before, and I've never had a problem with it as long as I've understood the character's emotions and motivations.

I always believed in my characters. I lived them.

Whenever I'm writing a book, small details from my life always creep in.

When you write, you hear the characters speaking to you as you take dictation from what they say. And obviously, they had particular personalities when you hear them.

Whichever character I'm using and wherever I am in my mind dictates what kind of story I'm going to tell.

I want prose fiction to be recognized as that, and I'm not interested in writing as it becomes more personal.

No one knows how to write a novel until it's been written.

There is always going to be a little bit of me in each character.

When you write a novel, you never have to be in the service of the reader. My only concern with my books is that the world that's created be as logical and whole as possible.

There are people who say they want to write novels. They think, 'I'll learn my craft on the romance novel.' If you don't love the genre, it's going to show, and it's not going to be a good book.

You start as an audience member and create a world you're interested in, and then you move into the telling of those stories, bringing what has interested you as an audience member.

When the narrative itself starts knocking on the glassed-in box that was your prescription for how you were going to write this novel... you have to listen to it.

I should tell you that many people think that authors just cut and paste from real life into books. It doesn't work quite that way.

I think the idea of creating a character from scratch, one that has not been done in a novel or an existing story, is immensely exciting, terrifying and ultimately rewarding.

I try to write the kind of books I like to read.

You have to have empathy, knowledge and compassion for your characters if you're a writer.