creativity Quotes

Being lonely is not a bad thing for a writer.

The only thing I shy away from is non-consensual violence. I can't write a story where someone is a simple victim because it's boring.

Portland in particular is a cheap enough place to live that you can still develop your passion - painting, writing, music. People seem less status-conscious. Even wealthy people buy second-hand clothes and look a little bit homeless.

Sometimes, like in 'Invisible Monsters,' I get too out of control, and instead of a plot point every chapter, I want a plot point in every sentence.

If anything I try to write something that would be more difficult to film. I tend to see film as competition and would like instead to do what books do best.

While writing, I tend to repeat the same song, endlessly, for thousands of times. This helps me ignore any lyrics, and helps create a consistent mood for each book.

In books, you can just wallow in dialogue, and you can just wallow in written words. In screenplays, every line has to serve the purpose of the line that's implied before it and the line that's implied after it. Maybe five lines have to do the work of fifty lines.

Some of the best ideas I get seem to happen when I'm doing mindless manual labor or exercise. I'm not sure how that happens, but it leaves me free for remarkable ideas to occur.

You can tell a more over-the-top incredible story if you use a nonfiction form.

My writing process isn't a very organized thing.