Anne Enright Quotes

As much fun as it is to read a book, writing a book is one level deeper than that.

To write a book is for all the world like humming a song—be but in tune with yourself, madam, 'tis no matter how high or how low you take it.

A book, while it is being written, has an intense life of its own which you share.

A really good day for me is to write my book for about four hours, go to the writing room for about four hours and then maybe come back to the book to finish the day for a few more hours of it.

Your book grows. The early part of your book is growing still while you are writing the later part of your book.

I've never been able to write a book without one very strong character in my rucksack.

No two books come out the same way. Some I write by the seat of my pants; others are planned in minute detail.

Books are great for if you want to work on the craft of writing for yourself, or, you know, to write novels or indie films, stuff like that.

So perhaps the best thing to do is to stop writing Introductions and get on with the book.

I finish the book so I can see how it's going to end. I write that first sentence, and if it's the right first sentence, it leads to the right second sentence and three years later you have a 500-page manuscript, but it really is like going on a trip, going on a journey. It's a voyage.

Books are really, really hard to write. They represent a kind of a summit of grappling with what one really has to say

You may be able to write a novel, you may not. You will never know until you have worked very hard indeed and written at least part of it. You will never really know until you have written the whole of it and submitted it for publication.

A book comes and says, 'Write me.

Writing a book is the most terrifying thing that I've ever done. It's so much harder than writing for television because it is a completely different skill set.

I write books that way - I put a first line down and say, "Where does this go?"

Following takes why. Transactions take what. It has to be real. It has to be the same for writing a book.

The process of book writing for me is entirely one of trial and error.

A book, at the same time, also has to do with what I call a buzz in the head. It's a certain kind of music that I start hearing. It's the music of the language, but it's also the music of the story. I have to live with that music for a while before I can put any words on the page. I think that's because I have to get my body as much as my mind accustomed to the music of writing that particular book. It really is a mysterious feeling.

The two things I enjoy the most about writing are the first page of a book and the last. What's in between is very hard work.

The process of writing a book is like the process of preparing a dinner. Serving dishes, choosing ingredients and so on.

As for thinking time versus writing time, well, that's up to you. But - and I wish it were otherwise - books don't get written by thinking about them, they get written by writing them. And that's when you make discoveries about what you're writing. That's when you get the happy accidents.

I don't read books regularly, because I'm always writing them. I've written 30 books, thousands of pages.

I have to go make books. Sorry about that.

I should tell you that many people think that authors just cut and paste from real life into books. It doesn't work quite that way.

Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.