Romesh Gunesekera Quotes

That's the secret to anything we write. You have to bring your experience to it. Otherwise, how do you expect anyone else to connect to it?

As a writer, it is always fun to imagine yourself in someone else's shoes.

In my younger days, I was trying to write sophisticated prose and fantastic stories.

You have to have heart's passion to write a novel.

You become a great writer by writing.

When I try to write I try to write something different every time. That's the challenge.

There's actually nothing interesting about me except what I write.

In my writing, I focus lenses. I'm almost always seeing when I am writing.

I allegedly am an outsider writer, so I write from the perspective of somebody who doesn't completely fit in. But at the same time, I can state the fact that I don't know of any good writer who is not an outsider writer.

Creating fantasy is a very personal thing, but you can't take the process too personally.

There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there were we would be able to put all the information into a computer and would come out with a masterpiece. We know that's impossible. You have to compose by the seat of your pants.

I spend a lot of time writing. I get inspiration from texts rather than images.

Literature for me isn't a workaday job, but something which involves desires, dreams and fantasy.

Only a reader can become a writer. Develop a lively intellect and the ability to become interested in anything, no matter how mundane it might seem at first. Look for the story. Develop an eye for detail. Feed your mind and your brain: learn as much as you can about everything you can.

I've always been a reader and a writer.

As a writer, I've always been interested in others.

The reason there's no modern-day Shakespeare is because he didn't have anything to do except sit in a room with a candle and think.

I started to read at a very early age, and I just thought that books and reading were really the most wonderful thing that life had to offer. I think I wrote my very first piece of fiction at the age of 12, but then I didn't write any more for quite a long time.

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.

You can't be a storyteller and a speechwriter at the same time.

When I write, I imagine places more than people.

You don't have to go fight bulls in Spain like Hemingway to write something great, or go off to war. It's right under your nose.

There are millions of people who think that romance isn't real writing. But the only person who can make you real, make your books real, is you.

I want to write books.

When people ask me for secrets to writing, I say, 'Read to write.'