Alan Dean Foster Quotes

I have to do more close research and fact checking for the science fiction. This is not however to say that writing good fantasy does not involve doing good research.

I hate thinking about writer's block! I don't have writer's block much, knock on wood, but if I do, I think it's usually because I haven't done enough research and am therefore unable to create a fully realized world.

When you do fiction, it is your imagination you have put out there.

I find fantasy easier to write. If I'm going to write science fiction, I spend a lot more time thinking up justifications. I can write fantasy without thinking as much. I like to balance things out: a certain amount of fantasy and a certain amount of science fiction.

I've sort of always been obsessed with telling stories and making things up.

I was writing fantasy as soon as I could hold a pen.

I have 20 or 30 books completely plotted out in my mind - mysteries, thrillers, horror, romance, science fiction. You name it.

People ask me how I do research for my science fiction. The answer is, I never do any research.

Obviously, I love to do both contemporary and historical fiction. When a hint of a story grabs me, I try to go with it to see where it will take me whatever the setting.

My feeling is that writing Fantasy should be harder - not easier - than writing any other kind of fiction.

You can't write about fantasy without being ridiculous.

I like to know the places I write about. I feel like it helps me ground the novel. My novels are 'realistic novels,' but they can also be fantastical, so it's nice to have a setting that grounds them a little bit.

I tried almost every genre. I decided at 14 I wanted to be a writer. I think I had to wait until they invented word processors to get serious about it, but I really tried every genre, and fantasy was the one that gave me the scope to do the most... you could play with worlds more.

There are many reasons why novelists write, but they all have one thing in common - a need to create an alternative world.

A good scenario doesn't make a good science fiction story - but it's a setting within which a good science fiction story might be told.

I started writing stories in my spare time.

As a novelist, you could say that I am dreaming while I am awake, and every day I can continue with yesterday's dream. Because it is a dream, there are so many contradictions and I have to adjust them to make the story work. But, in principle, the original dream does not change.

I was totally absorbed in the real world, the politics, the history, the news, and I just couldn't find my way into the fictional world... When I finally could return to writing the novel, it was in fits and starts.

At a certain moment, I decided to write a story. I had no more small children to tell them stories.

I simply love writing good stories, that's my passion.

When I write, I get glimpses into future novels.

I love the idea of real-life experiences finding their way into fiction. I think that's really cool.

A work of fiction is conceived very much the same way as a dream occurs in the mind of a sleeper. But a lot of it is imagination. It's not based on real people.

I'm not nearly smart enough or imaginative enough to tackle the novel form. Never happen.

I like going back and writing fiction.