John Darnielle Quotes

I know how demanding the process of creation is.

I don't care what I do - act, stand-up, write, direct - it doesn't matter as long as I'm being creative and it's good work.

Books and movies are never finished, only surrendered.

The creative process is often wrapped up in bottomless anxiety, and when the world applauds the product of that process, it soothes the anxiety. Briefly. Then the anxiety returns and even intensifies.

As an actor, you just want to continue to work on things that you like. You can be in this business a long time and consistently working and just be totally artistically unfulfilled.

It takes a long time to get a film made.

Completing a book, it's a little like having a baby.

Something is better than nothing. Doin' anything for a man, there's investments involved, there's time and production. It's better to give him ten bucks and get a record out than to never record the cat.

The only living works are those which have drained much of the author's own life into them.

I'm always a bit disappointed when I've finished working on a book.

I can't express how wonderful it is to get feedback when you've been sort of in a bubble working on something and then you release it to the world and hope for the best. It's like the birth of a musical baby.

And I don't have any specific steps to take because I don't start the same way every time. But there is a knowing when it's enough and you can leave it alone.

If you're a filmmaker, and every time you finish a film, you just naturally go, 'Oh, I could have done so much better,' that's not much fun, is it, really? You might as well go pick another profession if that really is how you derive satisfaction from it.

I've made over 25 studio albums, and I think probably I've made two real stinkers in my time, and some not-bad albums, and some really good albums. I'm proud of what I've done. In fact it's been a good ride.

There's nothing more satisfying than having an idea and seeing it through to find out that, not only did you like it, but the audience and critics all seemed to agree.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.

We built our business on creativity, and we're going to have to go through an education process for the next five years to explain to people how our users and that creativity creates value.

For me, working on original material is very important.

I suspect that writers and other creators are never really finished with any work.

I think you have to be so indulgent in creativity in that, if you're happy, it's successful. If it's then financially successful, which is different parameters, then you're also happy.

You are carving out a story. You and your colleagues are trying to make something that is bigger than yourself. Although it can be a scary experience because you're putting your work out on the line, it's also incredibly rewarding because a lot of it comes from you.

'I Drink' took me two years to write.

Writing a book is like torture that you don't know, but after it's done and there it is. It's a joy like unlike anything else, I think it's the closest that a man can come to knowing what is feels like to have a baby.

Painting and animation can be kind of long work. Music was more immediate and more fun.

The most rewarding part of writing for TV is - a year ago I would have said it's just watching it on TV, it's just having been done with it and then collecting all that energy.