Lisa Morton Quotes

Other people have hang-ups about what's literary or genre or whatever, and that's sort of not my problem. You're supposed to write what you have to write, and you're supposed to keep moving.

I always write the pieces I want to write.

When aspiring writers ask me about how they should target their writing, I tell them to pay no attention to that kind of thing. It will restrict you. You will end up falling into stereotypes in an effort to tailor your work toward a perceived genre category.

Remember to write for yourself, not for a market and give yourself time to develop your own style, your own voice. It takes a lifetime. Enjoy it!

I just write what I want to write.

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.

I just write books, and I do it without any notion of what I should do or shouldn't do.

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.

Nothing beats novel writing because it's complete expression of you. You just control everything. Not even a movie director has that level of control.

Early on my career, I figured out that I just have to write the book I have to write at that moment. Whatever else is going on in the culture is just not that important. If you could get the culture to write your book, that would be great. But the culture can't write your book.

I don't really write for an audience. I just write what the subject seems to me to require.

I write what I want to write.

I don't think you can write from a reactive place. I think you just write the thing you want to write about, and if other people are writing about it, that doesn't really come to bear on what you want to do.

There is pressure when you have a very big book like 'Shadow Divers' to follow up with something big. But you can't let that pressure determine what you do. You just look for the best stories, and when you find a great one, you tell it.

I feel uninhibited when I'm writing.

I prefer writing originals.

I think one of the keys to better writing is releasing all of your ideas and to not be afraid. Dream big. This could be the greatest novel in the world you know.

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.

I guess I could say that I pursue questions that interest me in ways that interest me on the page, but that's awfully vague.

Write a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn't read it, why would anybody else? Don't write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book's ready.

I tell the stories that are of interest to me.

And write what you love - don't feel pressured to write serious prose if what you like is to be funny.

As a writer, you have to first of all write what you want to. Listen to advice, by all means, but don't get bogged down in it.

I never have an intended audience. I just write, you know.

I love to write. I used to be a math teacher. And I like the idea that other people could write about the same subjects, but no one would write it just the way I do. It's very individual: a child could write the same story as somebody else, but it wouldn't come out the same.