Philip Rosenthal Quotes

You don't have to go fight bulls in Spain like Hemingway to write something great, or go off to war. It's right under your nose.

Forget market or publishers or whatever. Just write with fire and joy, and in my own experience, those are the stories of mine people have wanted to read.

People love talking about writers as storytellers, but I hate being called that: it suggests I got it from my grandmother or something, when my writing really comes out of silence. If a storyteller came up to me, I'd run away.

Many people have told me that my books read like novels. Perhaps this is because, when I write, I feel I am really there, so strong is my feeling for my subject. On occasion, I have been so moved by the events I have been describing that I have felt like crying.

Writing has always been an interest of mine, and 'The Language of Flowers' combined my experience with foster care with something I've always wanted to do.

There are millions of people who think that romance isn't real writing. But the only person who can make you real, make your books real, is you.

Of course, I write. I have stories to tell. But I don't want to do superficial stuff any more.

I think that writers are best served by sticking to their writing. Not having loads of theories about the best way to position the writing. I think that if the writing is good and the point of view is strong, the writing is going to take care of itself.

I prefer writing originals.

Somebody said writing is easy, you just sit down at your typewriter and open a vein. It depends on the book. Some, I have to do quite a lot of research, which I like. Others are much closer to me.

My only real claim to anyone's attention lies in my writing.

I think anything that anyone writes that's any good is going to have a lot of autobiography.

There's actually nothing interesting about me except what I write.

I love to write what I see and what I do and what I experience, and I like to see if people can relate to that. I don't know if I am as good at making up a story in my head that has no truth to it, so that is a challenge for me.

If you're going to write a good book, you have to make mistakes and you have to not be so cautious all the time.

I don't know anyone who is a writer who isn't influenced by the relationships in their life.

There are two kinds of writers; the great ones who can give you truths, and the lessor ones, who can only give you themselves.

I started writing when I was about thirteen.

A writer is always, always searching, even against her will, against all her better instincts, for the thread of a story. Everything is fodder. Everything is fuel. You can feel it coming on like the tingling of a sore throat. The brain never stops struggling to reshape every experience and feeling into a coherent narrative.

As a writer, I've always been interested in others.

When I am writing, I'm very much on the ground, on the same ground my characters are treading.

I started writing more with my voice in mind.

'Hill St.' was very good, but it was very impersonal work for me. I wrote about that place as if I was a visitor. It wasn't what my life was like. It was a great place to learn the craft of how to shape a scene, but I wanted a chance to write about more personal themes and obsessions.

I'm a firm believer in putting your experiences in your writing, of bleeding into the page.

I've been writing in some way, shape, or form for as long as I can remember.