James Lasdun Quotes

I write short stories. I write every day.

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

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

I would say the reason that I've never written a novel is because I've never written a novel.

Well, to be honest I think I'm a better short story writer than a novelist. Novels I find very hard, hours and hours, weeks and weeks, of conscious thought - whereas short stories slip out painlessly in a few days.

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.

I think I'm a born storyteller. Inspiration is all around me. I can read a newspaper article and come up with an idea for a book.

But at the same time, I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories because they turn into novels.

I just want to get on and tell stories.

The only way, I think, to learn to write short stories is to write them, and then try to discover what you have done.

I want to wake up one morning and know how to write page one, or page 10, or page 250. But I never seem to know how to do it. Every book is different and takes a different structure, style, process, etc. And relearning how to write is where the insanity comes from.

I'm not sure I have the physical strength to undertake a novel.

Usually after finishing a novel, I have a head full of bad ideas for the next one.

Try writing a book, dude. That's difficult.

I wrote my first short story in third grade.

I mean, I'm in the business of storytelling, not message making.

I started writing stories in my spare time.

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 love stories. I just enjoy telling stories and watching what these characters do - although writing continues to be just as hard as it always was.

I have a lot of books I want to write.

I asked Ring Lardner the other day how he writes his short stories, and he said he wrote a few widely separated words or phrases on a piece of paper and then went back and filled in the spaces.

I have some other novels I want to write. I have a lot of short stories - I love the short story.

I read all the time. Sometimes I get asked if I've thought about writing a novel.

I'm always writing. There is always a story brewing in my head.