Ellen Datlow Quotes

Write your own stories.

I have a bad tendency to get rapidly bored with my own material, so rewriting is hard for me. I mean, I already know the story and would rather read something new.

I think storytelling is a thing of beauty, and also very difficult. It's a craft you have to continue to work at.

Every story is different, so what is a detail in one might not be in something else. Diversity is something I embrace and love about my work.

I've never done a sequel - so far, there have been too many new stories and characters calling my name.

I don't think any good book is based on factual experience. Bad books are about things the writer already knew before he wrote them.

When I give myself over to a good novel, I surrender to the truths fashioned from one writer's heart, mind and soul. I do not waste a nanosecond wondering whether what I'm reading 'really happened.'

Novels are not about expressing yourself, they're about something beautiful, funny, clever and organic. Self-expression? Go and ring a bell in a yard if you want to express yourself.

My job as an author is to tell the story in the best way possible, to make it flow seamlessly and get the reader to keep turning the page.

To have frequent recourse to narrative betrays great want of imagination.

A book can be wonderful and powerful and accessible and artful all at the same time.

It's like a novelist writing far out things. If it makes a point and makes sense, then people like to read that. But if it's off in left field and goes over the edge, you lose it. The same with musical talent, I think.

I could come up with 50 stories that I am thinking about.

The laws of literary creation are unique; they don't change, and they are the same for everyone everywhere. I mean that you can tell a story that covers three hours of human life or three centuries - it comes to the same thing. Each writer who creates something authentic in a natural way instinctively also creates the technique that suits him.

I don't believe that anything's totally invented... If you're completely inventing a story, there wouldn't be an urge to tell it.

A great writer creates a world of his own and his readers are proud to live in it. A lesser writer may entice them in for a moment, but soon he will watch them filing out.

Each book should be an entity unto itself, with its own structure, character, life, name.

I'm a writer. I just love telling stories.

Composing means you have a beginning, middle and end and a fluidity to what you're doing.

In the end, my reasons for moving down the timeline and introducing a new cast have more to do with keeping myself entertained, on the assumption that if I get bored, my readers are going to be even more bored.

The way I express ideas is through the plot, Suspense is an important part of expressing an idea.

Touching on universality is an important part of effective storytelling, but the problem with cliches is that they are tired and dull. And that's where writers must try to be artful.

I see myself as a story teller.

How many times can you put together 26 different stories without running out?

Life would be much easier if I just wrote the same book over and over again. But I'm not interested in doing that.