Kate Atkinson Quotes

I didn't have any agenda or plan when I started writing stuff.

When you write what you know, you stay in control. One of the first things I encourage my writing students to do is to lose control - say what they want to say, break structure.

Being an author is fun. It's a great job, because I can stay up as late as I want, and if I feel like taking the day off, I do it. Plus, I get to make up silly stories and draw pictures all day.

I don't write to a genre.

When I'm happiest writing is just not knowing where it goes and just let the characters bring you there.

Never forget that the truest luxury is imagination, and that being a writer gives you the leeway to exploit all of the imagination's curious intricacies, to be what you were, what you are, what you will be, and what everyone else is or was or will be, too.

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 feel uninhibited when I'm writing.

The great thing about being a novelist is that you organize your own day.

I want to have new challenges and write new crazy books because I think it makes me a better writer to be insecure and try new things.

I do not outline. There are writers I know and count as my friends who certainly do it the other way, but for me, part of the adventure is not knowing how it's going to turn out.

I wander around the house and write in bed, at the kitchen table, by the window, in the yard.

I am always worried that over-planning and outlining will kill the magic of writing; most of the world I created in 'California' occurred via good old sexy sentence-making.

You have to relax, write what you write. It sounds easy but it's really, really hard. One of the things it took me longest to learn was to trust the writing process.

The secret is to write just anything, to dare to write just anything, because when you write just anything, you begin to say what is important.

It is really important that focusing on things such as spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting doesn't inhibit the creative flow. When I was at school there was a huge focus on copying and testing and it put me off words and stories for years.

My main piece of advice would be don't worry about being published - just write a really good book, but also don't be afraid to write a bad book. Give yourself permission to fail, and don't be afraid.

I don't have a plan for a story when I sit down to write. I would get quite bored carrying it out.

If I knew a story page by page before I started writing it, I just wouldn't do it. The process of discovery is really important for my own enjoyment.

Don't let anyone tell you there's only one way to write.

Being a fiction writer makes you someone who works with irresponsibility.

When I start to write, I don't have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.

Every time I write a new book, I want to push myself to try something different.

My favorite thing is being able to follow my inspiration, and the freedom of being a writer is hard to beat.

I only type every third night. I have no plan. My mind is a blank. I sit down. The typewriter gives me things I don't even know I'm working on. It's a free lunch. A free dinner. I don't know how long it is going to continue, but so far there is nothing easier than writing.