J. Michael Straczynski Quotes

Doing interesting things and then writing about them is the best way to become a good writer.

I write about five thousand words a day, when working on a book, about three thousand a day if I'm writing a short story. I take long periods off between projects, when I read a lot, garden, and think about the next book or stories.

'The Way of the Gun' I wrote in five days.

In order to write novels for a living - it's not pathological, but I do think and worry and brood and fidget about stuff that I'm working on.

I never know how to give advice to a writer because there's so much you could say, and it's hard to translate your own experience. But of course, I always try. The main thing that I usually end up saying is to read a lot. To read a great deal and to learn from that.

You become a better writer by writing. You become a better travel writer by writing about travel.

I'm a very slow screenwriter. It takes time for me to write a screenplay. Also, I feel it's not my strength.

I'm always fascinated by how different writers' rooms work.

My method is, I just sit down and write a book.

For the years I spent working on it, 'Constellation' was the only novel I knew how to write, so maybe I still abided by the maxim? Regardless, I prefer the maxim: Write what you want to know, rather than what you already know.

I started writing when I was about 20, 21 maybe.

Luckily I haven't fallen into the trap, which has claimed so many writers, of living from day to day thinking 'Ah, I'll write a book about that.'

Many people think that it is important to have a title before you begin writing the book, but I think you should never sit around waiting for the right title to strike before you start writing. Crack on with the story, put in the hard work, and the title will come eventually.

All experience helps when you write.

I've been writing fiction probably since I was about 6 years old, so it's something that is second nature to me now. I just sit down and start writing. I don't sit down and start writing and it comes out perfectly - it's a process.

I'm not one of these 'the characters write themselves; the story just fell out of me' kind of writers. Wish it was like that.

It's hard for me to just practice without writing something.

Writing 'when you find me,' it really exposed me to a way of putting together a story I hadn't thought of.

I just do the best I can and write something interesting, to tell stories in an interesting way and move forward from there.

My writing routine is: get son off to school and sit down at 8 A.M. I read what I wrote the day before, and then write longhand, into a notebook. I prefer paper and pen because it feels closer to my brain.

Writing - not being a writer with interesting habits - gets priority.

I'm very interested in writing - it just takes so much discipline, whether it's short stories or novels.

The way you get better is putting words on the page and getting them behind you.

I am not much of a researcher as a novelist; I write mainly from experience.

In 25 years of writing novels, I've never had anything that felt like writer's block.