Kenneth Lonergan Quotes

I don't consciously think of any certain direction when I'm writing. I only try not to be repetitive or redundant.

When asked, 'How do you write?' I invariably answer, 'one word at a time.'

The elegance and the quality - the talent is always in the literature. I start with the word and I base everything on that. It doesn't make any difference to me.

Structure that really pays off is all based on emotion. I don't write down an elaborate plan. It's really done by feel. It's one area of my writing that I think I've got surer at as I've evolved.

The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.

No, absolutely not, writing doesn't have to be like a jigsaw puzzle, it can be a very linear undertaking.

I find that screenwriting is at best kind of a hackwork in some ways.

When I sit down to write, I don't think about writing about an idea or a given message. I just try to write a story which is hard enough.

There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.

I cannot outline. I do not know what the next thing is going to happen in the book until it comes out of my fingers.

I'm often asked how I write books, but I don't think my approach is suitable for everyone. If I walked into a creative writing class, all I could say to them was 'I tend to make it up as I go along.' I'm not sure that's brilliant advice.

I still write the same way and have the same perspective.

I don't card out my screenplays ever. I just have an idea I just sit down and write I don't edit.

I can tell you that I never begin working on a story until I have a title centered at the top of the first page.

I try to begin writing as close to a dreamlike state as I can get.

I'm not one of those authors who claims to hear voices in my head or 'let the characters speak through me,' whatever that might mean.

At the beginning of writing fiction, too much of the newspaper style was getting into the prose, so I thought, 'Gee, I should try writing longhand. Maybe I can tap something that goes back to the point before I could type.'

I don't work in a straight line. I don't write with an outline. I write where I can see things happen, and then things get glued together.

Like most art forms, writing is part instinct and part craft. The craft part is the part that can be taught, and that can make a crucial difference to lots of writers.

When I'm writing, I'll just say random stuff that doesn't make sense, and then a certain word that I keep saying will stick out, and I'll write from there.

A lot of young writers ask me about my process. They know what they want to write - but they need to know how. What's the right way? How do the professionals do it? What's the secret?

People don't stress enough that when they're writing lyrics, they are writing.

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

Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself - it is the occurring which is difficult.

I write in a rush of memory.