Celeste Ng

What's the best way to ensure a supply of good books in the future? Support up-and-coming writers now.

— Celeste Ng

Of course, as a kid, I had no idea what was practical: I wanted to be a paleontologist, then an astronaut.

— Celeste Ng

Stories work better when not everyone gets what they want.

— Celeste Ng

“I have measured my life with coffee spoons and do I dare to eat a peach?' 'DO I DARE DISTURB THE UNIVERSE?”

— Celeste Ng

“Unconsciously, one hand crept down to her belly, where an ache was beginning to blossom.”

— Celeste Ng

“– and Mia realized that she was crossing into a place she would have to go alone.”

— Celeste Ng

There is something about Midwest in general, that has kind of an underdog quality.

— Celeste Ng

Even if Pearl S. Buck hadn't spent most of her life in China, she'd have every right to write about it.

— Celeste Ng

Debut novels are difficult because nobody knows you... they just don't find a huge audience, because that's how the market works.

— Celeste Ng

“Ed Lim had gone to four different toy stores searching... he would have bought it for his daughter, whatever the price.”

— Celeste Ng

Writing, for me, is an extension of thinking - it's my way of processing, and only when I've gotten something down on…

— Celeste Ng

“Maybe at birth everyone should be given to a family of a different race to be raised. Maybe that would solve racism…

— Celeste Ng

I play music on my phone to fall asleep when I'm on the road and as an alarm clock to wake me…

— Celeste Ng

You don't feel like smiling? Then what? Force yourself to smile. Act as if you were already happy, and that will tend…

— Celeste Ng

“She had spent the night planning and now that it was time, she hardly thought at all. It was as if she…

— Celeste Ng

“They did not care if Pearl saw them this way. They were so artlessly beautiful, even right out of bed. Where did…

— Celeste Ng

As a historically voracious reader - pre-baby, I averaged a book every week or two, and when I was a kid, I'd…

— Celeste Ng

Narratively speaking, innocent misunderstandings are disappointing. Arbitrary events are also disappointing. The stories that really grab our attention involve not accidents but…

— Celeste Ng

The proliferation of styles, genres, and media need not be the death knell of anything. Instead, it's a sign that our acceptance…

— Celeste Ng

I wanted to write a book about people who have the best intentions and think - really, truly think - that they're…

— Celeste Ng

“It terrifies you. That you missed out on something. That you gave up something you didn’t know you wanted.” A sharp, pitying…

— Celeste Ng

The writer's job, after all, is not to dictate meaning, but to give the reader enough pieces to create his or her…

— Celeste Ng

In fiction you're not often writing about the typical; you are interested in outliers, the points of interest. Part of it comes…

— Celeste Ng

I am not a contest-enterer by nature. But contests - and their entry fees - are often the main way literary journals…

— Celeste Ng

When reading fiction, we cannot automatically assume that what we read is fact.

— Celeste Ng

“Teens could pay attention to nothing but the sexuality billowing off each other like steam.”

— Celeste Ng

I really wanted to be a poet - until I realized that I really didn't have what it took to be a…

— Celeste Ng

Spend too much time alone with your own words, and your writing grows anemic, in dire need of a transfusion.

— Celeste Ng

One of the things I like so much about 'Goodnight Moon' is the way it leaves room for ambiguity.

— Celeste Ng

“You can’t just do what you want, she thought. Why should Mia get to, when no one else did?”

— Celeste Ng

“To those out on their own paths, setting little fires.”

— Celeste Ng

I'm really interested in how we understand each other - and whether we can understand each other.

— Celeste Ng

“Sex changed things, she realized - not just between you and the other person, but between you and everyone.”

— Celeste Ng

“You loved so hard and hoped so much and then you ended up with nothing.”

— Celeste Ng

“I don't have a plan, I'm afraid, but then, no one really does, no matter what they say.”

— Celeste Ng

My husband's parents were both English teachers for decades.

— Celeste Ng

“I mean, that’s the future, isn’t it? In the future we’ll all be able to look past race.”

— Celeste Ng

I keep a writer's notebook and also put all my daily schedules and to-do lists in it.

— Celeste Ng

I think I'm good at metaphors and descriptions. Plot doesn't come naturally to me, so I work really hard at it.

— Celeste Ng

I loved growing up in Shaker Heights, and I really miss it.

— Celeste Ng