Jonathan Lethem Quotes

Writing can be fun. I think the challenge is to convey interesting things in accessible ways, and that's what I aim to do in books.

I realized that everything important in sci-fi showed up in the magazines first. It's the proving ground for new writers and new ideas.

Only a reader can become a writer. Develop a lively intellect and the ability to become interested in anything, no matter how mundane it might seem at first. Look for the story. Develop an eye for detail. Feed your mind and your brain: learn as much as you can about everything you can.

I've always been a reader and a writer.

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

The reason there's no modern-day Shakespeare is because he didn't have anything to do except sit in a room with a candle and think.

I think I'm a born storyteller. Inspiration is all around me. I can read a newspaper article and come up with an idea for a book.

When I write, I imagine places more than people.

When I want to read a novel, I write one.

I'm definitely a writer. I don't even know how to freestyle.

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.

Working with language requires beauty for me.

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 like to write. Prolific is part of who I am.

I want to write books.

That's the secret to anything we write. You have to bring your experience to it. Otherwise, how do you expect anyone else to connect to it?

When I was younger, I would write a ton, mostly because my mom told me I had incredible creativity and a gift of using words, only these were words that didn't get me in trouble.

When people ask me for secrets to writing, I say, 'Read to write.'

When you compose, it's like writing. You're like a writer. You just think all the time.

I'm constantly creating and writing.

Don't write about what you know - write about what you're interested in. Don't write about yourself - you aren't as interesting as you think.

I enjoy both TV writing and novel writing, and they are very similar. The goal is to entertain and amuse the audience, and I subscribe to this P.G. Wodehouse piece of advice: "Try to give pleasure with every sentence."

Once an interesting idea or theme occurs to me then I would want to write a poem about it. The rest, frankly, is not difficult.

When I devoted myself to poetry - and poetry is a very serious medium - I don't think the people that knew me as an individual with that tongue-in-cheek kind of humor...well, it didn't always lend itself to my poetry. When you're writing poetry, it's like working with gold, you can't waste anything. You have to be very economical with each word you're going to select. But when you're writing fiction, you can just go on and on; you can be more playful. My editor's main task is to cut back, not ask for more.

The great thing about writing is, if you don't like the world, we'll create a different one.