Molly Shannon Quotes

I like writing my own material - I'm pretty good at it.

'Cheers' was a good first step because I got to write my own material.

You can't tell someone how to write their own book.

Writing will remain a passion project.

I don't read books on how to write screenplays just because I'm stubborn. So it's all sort of made up.

I prefer writing originals.

I think one of the keys to better writing is releasing all of your ideas and to not be afraid. Dream big. This could be the greatest novel in the world you know.

I think anytime you start relying on a format to get you by you've got weak material to begin with.

It's hard to find a play that's right for me to do. Rather than waiting around for the right script to come along, I decided to write one myself.

I started writing by doing small related things but not the thing itself, circling it and getting closer. I had no idea how to write fiction. So I did journalism because there were rules I could learn. You can teach someone to write a news story. They might not write a great one, but you can teach that pretty easily.

I'm currently trying to direct my own material.

The way I like to work is to attach personal experiences to what I'm doing, so it helps tremendously if I can write my own play under what the writer has written.

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.

We don't feel pressure of, 'Let's make this really raunchy.' It's more about making a good story, which is 10 times harder. The raunchy stuff's really easy for us.

When I was in college, I had the good fortune to have Joyce Carol Oates as my writing teacher. She told me that I could take an aspect of myself, and from that one bit of personality, I can create a character. This is what I have done, particularly in my novels.

Writers cannot simply have a go, imagining it's easier to produce a story than a novel because fewer words are required. Have a go by all means; be intrepid, but be equipped.

If you are a good writer - and I think I am - you are able to handle any kind of group and imagine their lives.

Headline writing is an art form.

I never thought I was very good at developing material. I grew up at the BBC where they sent you scripts.

When you write a movie, you have a hundred collaborators. But when you write a novel, it's yours.

One thing I like about trying to write is that I can possibly write myself a role. Otherwise, you're at the mercy of whatever roles are out there that people are willing to give to you.

I've been writing, in one way or another, for as long as I can remember.

I do enjoy working with writers.

The same tools that make any writer good, plus a cheerful willingness to suspend belief.

How can I impress strangers with the gem-like flame of my literary passion if it's a digital slate I'm carrying around, trying not to get it all thumbprinty?