Patrick Ness Quotes

'Ghost City' began as a idea. I felt that I hadn't read or heard a great deal about the sort of life that I thought I had, and I just thought that it would be interesting to sit down and see if I could put it down onto paper.

I'm still in love with what I do, with the idea of making things up, so hours when I write always feel like very blessed hours to me.

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.

When I'm the one who sits down and looks at the blank page and writes it out all the way, then I'll call it my script.

I sort of love reading the scripts and going, 'Oh wow, what a great idea. I never would have thought of that.'

When I write stories I am like someone who is in her own country, walking along streets that she has known since she was a child, between walls and trees that are hers.

There is a plethora of topics to explore. I sometimes think I may never live long enough to explore all of the unique story lines I have either in my head or waiting in my computer file.

The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me.

The ideas of the great playwrights are almost always larger than the experiences of even the best actors.

I just knew there were stories I wanted to tell.

For me, I used to be shy towards journalism because it wasn't poetry. And then I realized that the events that I covered in essays that became journalism were actually great because they inspired me, and they became my muse.

I'm a great believer in gathering together all your obsessions and seeing if you can make a novel out of them.

Stories are the only thing that I can be bothered with. It's the only way that I can do anything, even if I'm quite useless. It's the only area in being human where I could be a little useful.

The miracle of turning inklings into thoughts and thoughts into words and words into metal and print and ink never palls for me.

The great advantage of being a writer is that you can spy on people. You're there, listening to every word, but part of you is observing. Everything is useful to a writer, you see - every scrap, even the longest and most boring of luncheon parties.

Today I began the novel that I determined to be great.

The really great writers are people like Emily Bronte who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and unlimited imagination.

It was kind of enlightening to become a playwright.

I discovered writing children's books was a way to keep living in my imagination like a child. So I wrote a number of books before I started 'Magic Tree House.' Then, once I got that, I never looked back because I could be somewhere different in every single book.

I write almost everything, actually. Songs, poems, stories. And stories out of every genre, too.

There is the great creative part of it. The writing is the best part.

For me, writing essays, prose and fiction is a great way to be self-indulgent.

I try not to think too much about where my voice comes from. I'm channeling characters and emotion to come up with beautiful words that tell a story.

Of course you bank on your experience, but as a sounding board. It isn't that you write down what happens to you every day. You wouldn't be a writer if you did that.

I guess I'm just inspired to tell stories.