Jen Lancaster Quotes

I did not set out to write another novel. One day I sat down with the thought of trying my hand at a piece of nonfiction, a personal memoir of youth, but over the next several weeks, without intending it, the work began evolving into what has become 'Tomcat in Love.'

Though my stories aren't autobiographical, I do sometimes use things from my life.

I tend to wait for true stories to mature into fiction. Most of my fiction grew out of a long-germinating real-life situation.

I'm a believer in using whatever works for fiction, but mostly, that's not life.

I sort of love reading the scripts and going, 'Oh wow, what a great idea. I never would have thought of that.'

A great danger, or at least a great temptation, for many writers is to become too autobiographical in their approach to their fiction. A little autobiography and a lot of imagination are best.

Storytelling is what lights my fire.

When I see things in the world that leap out at me, I want to make use of them in fiction. Maybe every writer does that. It just depends on what you claim or appropriate as yours.

Of course, all writers draw upon their personal experiences in describing day-to-day life and human relationships, but I tend to keep my own experiences largely separate from my stories.

Writers do draw inspiration from their own lives, which, quite frankly, might be more interesting than fiction.

I got into writing because books and stories were always a big part of my life. I loved listening to them and then reading them, and I loved making them up.

I was 12. Our, teacher made us write an autobiography and I realised that I wasn't very interesting. I began to make things up, and that's when I thought maybe I was a writer, or at least a fiction writer.

Take it from me: I really love making things up, which is why I write fiction for a living.

I've lost much of my heart and the spark or fire that once 'created,' or produced, the art of fiction.

I like going back and writing fiction.

All of my novels are seeded in real life events, and 'The Wreckage' is no different.

I get ideas for my books from people I know and what happens to them, from places I've been and what happens to me, and from things I read.

It would have been very easy to drift into writing a non-fiction book so by taking it away from Nottingham I forced myself to imagine much more of it.

I feel like reading really defined me as a writer because I lived my life outside of my own body for so much of my life and I loved it. I've always been a reader. I think living all those stories served me to naturally take that next step to creating.

A story in your head isn't a story. It's just a daydream until you actually write it down. So write it down.

I've always enjoyed making up stories, especially when I was bored and just sitting around. It got really serious after the children came along.

I try not to think too much about where my voice comes from. I'm channeling characters and emotion to come up with beautiful words that tell a story.

Every writer is going to end up drawing from their own experiences in one way or another.

I sometimes feel as if ideas for a novel kind of pop up like numbers in a bingo tumbler, and then they're ready to go.

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