Jeff Vandermeer Quotes

Each book first begins with a little idea.

No matter how many books you've written, whenever you sit down to write a new book, you always feel the same challenge - how do you shape this story into a book that people are going to love.

The idea that I'm going to have to sit down to write some fiction where I'm going to have to think of a plot would really scare me, because it would come out a mess.

I was commissioned to write some romantic fiction, and I really liked doing those, and they were very instructive in terms of building characters and plots. But it never felt right for me.

Once I came to really understand the mechanics of three-act structure, my life got a great deal easier. It doesn't tell you how to write your book, but it helps you understand why things aren't working, or what kind of beat needs to come next.

The first sentence of a book is a promise.

I want to wake up one morning and know how to write page one, or page 10, or page 250. But I never seem to know how to do it. Every book is different and takes a different structure, style, process, etc. And relearning how to write is where the insanity comes from.

I'm not sure I have the physical strength to undertake a novel.

I learnt to love reading. And then I started scribbling stories, and I liked that even more.

When I decided to take writing seriously, I did a lot of reading and analyzing of the books I liked, and came up with what I thought were pretty sound plotting and structure basics.

For me, the hardest thing in the world is how to start a book.

It takes me a very, very long time to write a story, to write a piece of fiction, whatever you call the fiction that I write. I just go about it blindly, feeling my way towards what it has to be.

I got into writing because books and stories were always a big part of my life. I loved listening to them and then reading them, and I loved making them up.

When I was starting out, I did not do short fiction well, because I kept wanting to write books.

I look for material that both interest me and challenges me. If I am drawn to the material and I have to work hard at it, the characters and the plots reflect the hours and hours of research.

I've tried to write deep and serious. I spent years working to write a story that would make my writing group cry.

I consider myself a writer. I don't favour any type of writing. I sometimes wish short stories came more easily to me.

I get intrigued by a puzzle, and writing a book is the best way to solve it.

I didn't plan to write YA - I had a story that simply wasn't working as a straight-up fantasy novel.

I write fast. But it takes me a while to get going. It's very important for me to see my whole plot. I have to see the end first because I like a surprise in the end. Which is why I let characters and plot gestate in my mind.

It's funny: I like being surprised as a reader, so it's difficult for me to spoil my own stuff.

My first job is to write a book that I believe is compelling and deserves the long sustained attention that any novel requires, and to worry about the commerce only late in the game.

Every book has got its challenges. You run into a plot point that you can't figure out, or a scene that you struggle to write and have to write 50 times.

When you are a novelist, you are used to making a narrative do what you want.

I get ideas for my books from people I know and what happens to them, from places I've been and what happens to me, and from things I read.