Jon Hopkins Quotes

Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself - it is the occurring which is difficult.

I think very abstractly when I'm writing. Then, as the project moves on, it becomes more like sculpting.

The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.

Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.

I write a lot in my head. I've never been driven to write things down.

A story is a story is a story. The only difference is in the techniques you bring to bear. There are always limitations on what you can and can't do. But I enjoy that. Just like when you write a sonnet or haiku, there are rules you have to abide by. And to me, playing within the rules is the fun part. It keeps the brain fresh.

I've always thought that writing isn't really that hard. It's having a good idea that's hard.

I really kill myself on titles, although 'The 5th Wave' seems like an obvious title, doesn't it? You don't know how long that took me.

My process is thinking, thinking and thinking - thinking about my stories for a long time.

When I have an idea, it goes from vague, cloudy notion to 100,000 words in a heartbeat.

Normally book ideas come to me in a moment.

I'm not like a Sears Catalog of ideas. I don't have that many ideas. I've more or less written them over the years. Usually, I come up with a situation or a character, and it rattles around in my head until the story or the plot emerges.

Many times, what people call 'writer's block' is the confusion that happens when a writer has a great idea, but their writing skill is not up to the task of putting that idea down on paper. I think that learning the craft of writing is critical.

If I can find the right idea, I can get out of the way and do a good story.

I write all the time and I try to think of ideas all the time.

I just loved the idea of writing for different personalities all the time.

That's the hard work of writing. The imagining.

If a person has never given writing a try, they assume that a brilliant idea is hard to come by. But really, even if it takes some digging, ideas are out there. Just open your eyes and look at the world. Writing the ideas down, it turns out, is the real trick.

My writing process often begins with a question. I write down ideas and let them stew for about a year. Then, when I sit down to write, I make a list of characters and try to see how they fit.

I act as a sponge. I soak it up and squeeze it out in ink every two weeks.

I don't stare at a sheet of paper and try to think of a good word to use. I try to see where the story should go.

Having imagination it takes you an hour to write a paragraph that if you were unimaginative would take you only a minute.

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.

Titles either come to you at the beginning or they don't come to you at all, I find, and I hate the feeling that I haven't got a title because it usually means that you are left at the end scrambling around trying to find something.

Re-writing is different from writing. Original writing is very difficult.