Nick Flynn Quotes

Each time I write a new piece, whether a novel, a picture book, a speech or anything, really, it has so much to do with what I'm going through personally or a problem I'm trying to work out. When I wrote my novel 'Baby,' my three children had all just gone out the door.

The first book I ever bought for myself was 'One Fish Two Fish' by Dr. Seuss. My favourite page shows two children carrying an enormous glass jar up some stairs in the dark. In the jar is a tusked beflippered creature floating in brine.

I wrote my first story when I was six or seven.

My mom called me 'Stinky Binky' as a toddler, and I started to refer to myself as, 'I'm Binkie.'

When I was born, that was right smack in the middle of 'The Cosby Show.' But what I remember is my mother took me with her... She exposed me to the world in such a way where I was included. And I didn't feel like she chose her career over me.

Most of my characters are an amalgamation of people that I've met, my family, or myself. Being a writer, you can draw only from what you know. I am lucky to have really rich and interesting people in my family for, you know, interesting family nights and great characters.

When I read 'Greenberg,' I had a really strong sense if I could be any kind of writer I wanted to be, I'd be this kind of writer. And I felt like, even in my experiences, what writing I had done, even on a small scale, when it was good, it shared some quality with it.

Writing about your family is the hardest thing, unless you had the perfect happy family life, which very few of us have had.

In the case of 'The Book Thief,' my research was hearing the stories of my parents when I was a child. But I started changing the stories when I began moulding the book.

Barack's mother was very important to him, but he spent a great deal of his life living in a different place. So, as all kids do, you always have a fantasy of what perfection would be. And my guess is that Michelle's childhood was his idea of perfection. It allowed him to anchor himself with her and with her family.

One day, my father brings a cassette. He's showing me this, and he's like, 'Look at this guy, his name is Anthony Santos, like you.' I popped it on and started hearing the songs, the music, and I was like, 'Wow, this sounds great.'

I was on my dad's tour bus when I was super little. My dad did a tour of 'Annie Get Your Gun' when I was really little, and I loved going and seeing him do that.

The first song I ever wrote was in grade eight.

Varavelpu' has a special place in my heart because it was inspired from my own father's experiences.

My parents split up when I was 16, and, while Mum came to a few Tests, Dad didn't make many. So I was glad he was at Lord's.

Brandy opened a lot of doors for me and is still helping me out. If I never ever swayed from being 'Brandy's brother,' it wouldn't be a problem. But being real to yourself, it shines through.

Since when I was little, I would always write a script and tell my sister, 'Read this line. I'm going to film it.'

When I was a kid, my aunt snuck us into see 'Boyz n the Hood.'

My mom made me watch 'Star Wars' for the first time when I was about 7 years old. When I was younger, I hated action movies and pretty much anything loud. So when she put it on, I covered my ears and ran out of the room.

I grew up watching 'Gigi.' My grandmother had it, and I watched it there.

If my mother was taking pictures, I never wanted her to take the camera off me, ever. When I look at my videos from when I was even just two, I would be playing ballerina.

So much of what I write in fiction is based on true stories.

For a long time, I thought of singing as my mom's thing. I loved it, but I thought of dance as my thing.

Peaky' is a very personal thing for me because it's based on stories that I was told as a kid by my parents. At the very beginning, I tried to have other writers involved but it just didn't work.

When I was a young boy, I would watch my mom apply her makeup, so one day, I took a lipstick she had and put it on my mouth, trying to imitate her. It ended up all over my face.