Author Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Neal Shusterman Quote: 'Before I start, I trick myself ...'

Related Quotes

When I originally entered UCLA, I had planned to go for a film major, but I kept finding myself taking math classes for fun, 'cause I missed them from high school!
Danica McKellar
Tags: Had Them Go
Nothing bores me more than books where you read two pages and you know exactly how it's going to come out. I want twists and turns that surprise me, characters that have a difficult time and that I don't know if they're going to live or die.
George R. R. Martin
Tags: Time You Me
My favourite part of writing a book is thinking up the ideas, and that can start a long time before I actually sit down at my desk.
Anthony Horowitz
Tags: Time Up Part
I never know, when I start writing a story, what's going to happen, or how it will all get sorted out.
Jacqueline Woodson
Tags: Get Out Know
I start with a character and a situation, but I don't know what's going to happen until I write it. Sometimes things happen that surprise me.
Louis L'Amour
Tags: Me Know Things
Once a novel gets going and I know it is viable, I don't then worry about plot or themes. These things will come in almost automatically because the characters are now pulling the story.
Chinua Achebe
I prefer to surprise myself as I'm writing. I'm not interested in it if I already know where it's going. So I have only the most general sense of what I'm doing when I start a story. I sometimes have a destination in mind, but how the story is going to go from Point A to Point Z is something I make up as I go along.
Lois Lowry
Tags: Up Know Make
There is no better place to plot the death of a character than when you're miserable and working out.
Brad Meltzer
Tags: Death You Out
I can tell you that as a writer and as a reader, I regard character as king. Or queen. No matter how riveting the action or interesting the plot twists, if I don't feel like I'm meeting someone who feels real, I'm not going to be compelled to read further.
Maggie Stiefvater
Tags: You Like Who
You just have to be comfortable in your own skin before you jump into something where people that you're going against are going to be better than you in some way every time.
Tiffany Thornton
Tags: Time You People
Ramona was originally an accidental character I added to the Henry Huggins books because I noticed that none of the characters had siblings. I added Ramona as Beazus' pestering little sister.
Beverly Cleary
A different script calls for different things. It always takes me a long time to get to know the part, and know the logic behind the words. I have to be with the script for quite a long time before things start to fall into place, before they become part of the character.
Sally Hawkins
Tags: Time Me Get
We start with strong characters and build the movie from there. That not to say we don't struggle with story - that's the most challenging part.
Chris Meledandri
Tags: Most Say Part
I start with an idea that is no more than a paragraph long, and expand it slowly into an outline. But I'm always surprised by the directions things take when I actually start writing.
Barry Schwartz
Tags: More Always Than
I don't know what God has planned for me or you or anyone, but I do know that in darkness, you discover an indistinguishable light.
Cory Booker
Tags: God You Me
I wanted to be famous. It's embarrassing to admit, but I came out to L.A. thinking it would happen in no time. I thought, 'Once they see me, they'll be so glad I came.' I always had a ridiculous amount of self-confidence about what was going to happen to me.
Chelsea Handler
Tags: Time Famous Me
Blackbeard is probably the most infamous pirate who ever lived. He's one of those characters for which most of your work is done before you start.
Ian McShane
Tags: Work You Who
Never use dogs to symbolize anything. That is ridiculous. Always ensure that any dogs are just dogs; i.e., characters in the story who happen to be dogs.
Lynn Coady
Tags: Just Who Always
At the beginning, everything's possible and everybody gets equal time, all the characters, all the ideas. You don't know who's going to be the main characters; they're all fighting it out. It's like kind of the best time in a way.
Stephen Gaghan
Tags: Time Best You
When you get into a film, it is one story and one set development of a character, and you are able to delve into one character for a short period of time and discover everything about them.
Alexander Gould
Tags: Time You About