Jeff Kinney Quotes

I wanted each of my books to be very different from the others, each to be special and uncategorizable, and I knew I could only do that a few times before I was in danger of repeating myself.

What's lucky about my career in general is that I stumbled into what every writer most wants. Not repeating myself and doing strange things has become my trademark.

Don't be a blueprint. Be an original.

I don't want to write formula. I don't want to crank these books out like sausages. Every book is different, which takes a hell of a lot of ingenuity on my part.

Always do something different from the others.

For a writer, you definitely do not want to be in the mainstream. You want to be on the edge because that's where the vantage point is. That's where you can see.

I have no models in Japanese literature. I created my own style, my own way.

If you want success, be unique.

I've been really trying to hone the art of songwriting in a way that doesn't follow any sort of guideline.

Originality is, for me, the most important quality in a script.

Put your own twist to it. That's how you say relevant. Or things get old and boring.

Everything's so, like, saturated nowadays. So if you wanna, like, make an impact, you gotta do something different. Do something new.

I love doing collaborations - it's always good to do something that's out the box.

When I teach writing, I have a mantra: 'Be a first-rate version of yourself, and not a second-rate version of another writer.'

I want to be known for having a recognizable style. I believe having your own personal identity is what makes you competitive. On the other hand, I would like to be versatile and be challenged to go in new directions.

Creativity is the greatest expression of liberty.

I don't think you can write according to a set of rules and laws; every writer is so different.

Modern dancers should be doing things no one else is doing, and it should come from the gut.

It doesn't really matter to me what the rest of country is doing. I'm not caught up in trying to make a record that sounds like everybody else. That, to me, is a record label's absolute biggest downfall.

I've spent my whole literary career blurring boundaries between genres and categories.

Publishers just want you to write the same book over and over again. But why would I want to do that? It would be like putting on a threadbare dressing-gown day after day.

When the whole point of Queen was to be original.

We stand for creativity and pushing boundaries and having fun with one's music.

I stray away from formulaic, the formatted.

Find what you love to do and you'll never work a day in your life, that's true. But also always try to fill a niche. What can you try to do that is different?