Charles Frazier Quotes

All my friends who wanted to write had got nowhere trying to write the great European novel. So I deliberately steered clear of that and set out to write something story-led.

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

I write about people I think are interesting, and then I discuss it with my editor, and she decides if she thinks it will be interesting to children as well. If I have no great interest in the subject, I find the work to be terribly boring. And if I find the person interesting, I love the research part and, by extension, the writing as well.

Of course I planned to write the Great American Novel; that lasted about a week, at which point I decided I had nothing to say that could possibly qualify. So I wrote a romance instead.

I will write another book if I feel like it.

I think I settled on the title before I ever wrote the book.

I'm not a believer that you have to write every day. If I felt industrious, I'd spend ten hours a week writing. The writing is going on all the time in my head; the trick is to capture it. Showers are great. Traffic jams are great.

In the history of literature there are many great enduring works which were not published in the lifetimes of the authors. If the authors had not achieved self-affirmation while writing, how could they have continued to write?

My first novel was a challenge to myself. No one had an inkling that I was working on it.

Because I've a track record of talking about books I never write, in Australia they think I'm about to write a book about Jane Austen. Something I said at some festival.

I'm not a writer where I feel particularly blessed by great inspiration every day. I don't. I have to work really hard at it to try and say the things I'm concerned with.

I write what's given me to write.

When you're an established name, you know that a children's book will have a pretty good chance of getting picked up. Like Madonna. It's not that I had this great idea. Actually, in my case, it was a great idea.

I always write about subjects which attract me because if I didn't, it would be awful, a failure.

Like everything, what compels one to put pen to paper is a great question.

I think that my script, if it gets used, would be great. But if it doesn't, I think it inspired them.

I've seen people around me write books, and somehow they're always in the center of everything that happened; they were the one who made it happen. There's been a lot of those books that didn't really interest me much.

Every writer uses his own way to motivate oneself.

The great writers just kept bringing them out. They didn't care if they repeated themselves.

I want to offer a word of encouragement to authors: You have to feel called to the message of your book enough that you want people to get that message. When you get to that place, your passion goes through the roof, and then the other stuff happens.

I've been writing for years, you know, and when I get to a particular place, city, or different locale, I find myself first of all being challenged by those that love me to write more.

I've been able to write at least one book a year for 20 years, and I don't think I would've had that kind of drive if I hadn't come out of the journalism business.

When I had worked on my first book, I had readily shown bits and pieces to everyone - for encouragement, to force myself to write.

There is no editor or agent or person with a sack of money that will magically come down and give you motivation to make your thing.

When I got my first email from a record label, I decided I didn't want to go in with just one song, so I sat down and kept on writing.