Joshua Ostrander Quotes

I know how demanding the process of creation is.

I don't believe that a writer does something wonderful spontaneously. I believe it's the result of years of living, of study, reading, his very personality and temperament. At one particular moment, all these come together and the artist 'expresses' himself.

No great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation.

The creative process is not like a situation where you get struck by a single lightning bolt. You have ongoing discoveries, and there's ongoing creative revelations. Yes, it's really helpful to be marching toward a specific destination, but, along the way, you must allow yourself room for your ideas to blossom, take root, and grow.

When you're making something big, whether it's long-form fiction or a big piece of software, whatever that is, you're having a very intimate and extended conversation with the work materials themselves.

[Writing something original from scratch], the initial process is way different. But once it exists and you start to actually work on making it real, then the approach is kind of the same, for me anyways.

Since age seven, I've been composing and have never stopped composing, yet, the creative process is as elusive to me as it has ever been.

I look at the artistic process as like experiencing the world, channeling it through your personality and sending it back out there. That's the process.

Brian Eno developed systems to keep himself on edge and to keep himself in a position where he's generating ideas.

I always think that you finish one movie, you start a new one, and you think, 'OK. I did that last one. Now I've learned. I know how this works.' Then by the end of the movie, you think, 'No, I don't, really.'

I go through cycles with my writing. I have cycles where I'm up all night and lose track of time, and then I go for months without a thing to write about. My song 'So Good, So Right' came to me while I was washing dishes after a dinner party.

Designers and musicians are primed to keep thinking forward. Once an album or collection launches, you can only think about doing the next one.

Somebody said that my work might be an interesting source of material.

If the playwright knew every little thing about his play, why bother? There must be discovery all the time, otherwise why bother to do it?

I must have done everything I had. You go through years where you go through everything you've ever written.

Every time I make a film, I feel it gives me the chance to learn something new.

I've never been a very prolific person, so when creativity flows, it flows. I find myself scribbling on little notepads and pieces of loose paper, which results in a very small portion of my writings to ever show up in true form.

There are a lot of distractions when you're in creative industries like publishing or fashion or media, and it's a real blessing to have witnessed some of those up close at a young age. I think when you get past the glamour, that's when you get to the good stuff - the stuff that really feeds your soul and enriches you as a person.

That's what I've always wanted to do - work with my favorite writers and make something from scratch with them that we can feel like didn't exist before we came in the room.

Part of making art is learning how you make it best. I'm not great at sitting down at a desk and writing for three hours. I write best verbally, talking through an idea with people, so I do my best work when I collaborate.

I think the greatest privilege you have as an artist is time to nurture what you want to make; that's super luxurious. For you to rush into something, that doesn't feel fun to me. I'm living life in order to be able to write about it.

I'm always thinking about stories and ideas, and I have a few I'd like to actively pursue, but as much as I love them, I love the process of creation, and I want to go on and create things for myself, and create new things.

Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.

After it's finished, sometimes I can trace a path that goes back to the possible source of inspiration.

Gestating characters feels something like the mental equivalent of gestating a baby. In both cases, to create them you lose yourself. Or at least you reshape yourself to encompass them.