Thomas Mars Quotes

The creative process requires a period of boredom, of being stuck. That's actually a very uncomfortable period that a lot of people mistake for writer's block, but it's actually just part one of a long process.

I've often said that there's no such thing as writer's block; the problem is idea block.

I do not believe in inspiration, but I must have a title in order to work, otherwise I am lost.

Most artists have experienced the creative block. We get stuck in our work. We beat our head against the wall: nothing. Sometimes, it is because we are trying something at the wrong time.

I don't deal with writer's block, I don't allow myself to believe that there is such a thing. I think that there are good days and a lot more less good days.

It may be that learning to do creative work of any kind - not just direct imagery exercises - may help combat writer's block.

We've always had ups and downs at Pixar, starting with the high we felt doing something we'd never done - 'Toy Story' - and the low we felt right after when we realized we'd messed a bunch of things up along the way.

That's the best thing about writing, when you're in that zone, you're porous, ready to absorb the solution.

I don't generally listen to music while working, but sometimes music can help me get past minor writer's block.

Usually, I create tunes that are fragmented. I think the biggest obstacle for people with their creativity is that they feel they have to sit down and create this finished, polished product.

I think sometimes with new characters, you can kind of hit a creative valley, and it's important to recognize when you're in that valley so you can get back out and get back to that peak.

The dilemma felt by science fiction writers will be perceived in other creative endeavors.

Only a bad artist thinks he has a good idea. A good artist does not need anything.

Way back in the day, when I first started and had delusions of adequacy as a cartoonist, I would listen to music. When I switched to a career as a writer, I would try to listen to music, but if the songs had lyrics they would get in the way of the words I was trying to write. So I switched to listening to purely instrumental pieces.

I'm not in control of my muse. My muse does all the work.

I think about that 'empty' space a lot. That emptiness is what allows for something to actually evolve in a natural way. I've had to learn that over the years - because one of the traps of being an artist is to always want to be creating, always wanting to produce.

There's no such thing as writer's block. I'm brilliant all the time every day. It never stops.

I'm not very prolific. I'm not good at sitting down as an artist and saying 'Okay, I need to put in my four hours today.'

We all have fertile creative periods and times when we can't figure out how we ever did it.

Books arrive in my head all at once, and then it becomes an 18-month process of getting it all down on paper.

I learned that creativity is all about being frustrated.

Maybe I can't write without painting myself into a corner first.

I feel like I spend most of my time in a state of writer's block! When things do come out, they come out quickly.

I don't know where the ideas come from, and it's terrifying. They seem to be absolute flukes. When I was in my 20s, I'd walk around with a notebook all the time and make sure I wrote down anything that occurred to me. Now I'm just hoping that some sort of event will descend on me.

I'm not really worried about writer's block.