Jeff Lemire Quotes

I write my books at moments of shock. I meet people in extremis and their stories are highly emotionally charged.

I write characters and stories that move me, and I write from the heart.

I'm a pretty decent writer. It comes easy to me. I don't agonize over sentences. I write like I talk. I try to make them good books.

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

You know, as a writer, I'm more of a listener than a writer, cuz if I hear something I will write it down.

I don't really think in terms of making something that is going to be bought everywhere, because I don't read those things. My writing is a process in which I try my best to make good sentences and a sequence of events that is compelling and believable.

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

See, what I don't like listening to is when writers go, 'And then the person cries.' 'Or the person does this.' It's there, but it's not the Bible. I wait and see what happens to me on the day.

It's all in the writing. The writing has got to be there. Whether that's dialogue or character, or whatever, it doesn't matter. As long as they've done something special, than you can do something special.

I wouldn't like to be a character in one of my books!

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.

For me, inspiration isn't a sort of spark which lights the fire of the story. It's more like a thread, one of many, which you can tease out of a story once it's written, if you feel so inclined.

Write the best book you can, the one that demands to be written, no matter what genre it is. Even a trend the trades tell you has gone stale can be revitalized by a superb piece of writing. It'll never be revitalized by someone jumping on a trend bandwagon.

If I ever wrote a script myself, it would be strongly emotional material.

I just write the books that I think I would want to read.

As a writer, I absorb stories, allow them to churn within my own head and heart - often for years - until I find a way of telling them that fits both my time and temperament.

I don't have a style. I just try to write what the story demands.

Robert Ludlum, all of them, write the absolute best they can. You can't tone it down. You just do what you do, and if it comes out literary, so be it.

If I don't cry while writing a key emotional scene, my gut feeling is it's failed.

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.

I have no favourite genre or style but treat each novel with the same care, imagination and craftsmanship. It's as difficult to write a crime or a children's novel with a touch of style and grace as it is a literary novel.

For a writer it's a dream to sit and watch people as close as possible.

When I'm sitting writing, I know that something works if I've made myself cry, or laugh, or have a visceral emotion.

'Where'd You Go, Bernadette' was surprisingly easy and fun to write because I was feeling such strong emotions.

I just try to write the best story I can, a story I would love to read, and hope that readers feel the same.