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Writing Quotes by Nick Hornby

38 Writing quotes by Nick Hornby

All Writing quotes Nick Hornby’s page

Nick Hornby points out that a novel can take two to three years, while a screenplay of a hundred pages may need five years. He says a writer must feel a deep, visceral link to the material to stay engaged. He also enjoys the freedom to write exactly what he wants, at his own pace.

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It takes me two to three years to write a novel. A screenplay is 100 pages and takes five years.

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I do not wish to produce prose that draws attention to itself, rather than the world it describes.

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I only want to write books and movies about women.

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Whether I am writing about a man or woman makes no difference in terms of difficulty.

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The writing in those HBO dramas, like 'The Wire,' is as good as anything I've seen.

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“Funny + sad is what I'm pitching for, every time.”

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The easiest thing to write was 'Fever Pitch' because it was a memoir.

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I write slowly. I can't move on until I've got a paragraph right.

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To me, making a tape is like writing a letter – there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again, and…

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It's like when you get sick of your own cooking: I occasionally wish I could write something that didn't come out sounding…

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It's no good looking to writers for definitions of what constitutes proper writing, because you will drive yourself crazy, and you won't…

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“You may think that you don't want to read about the problems of being brought up Mennonite, but the great thing about…

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If you're 22 and got everything you want, what are you going to write about for the rest of your life?

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The most important thing for me is realism. I don't like writing which does somersaults on the page, and I'm no great…

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I can't stand it when writers moan about what film-makers might do or have done to their books. There's a very simple…

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The whole point of reading is that the writer is speaking to you, and if you're not listening, you're not going to…

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The best bit of novel writing is being allowed to write exactly what you want at the speed that you want, and…

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I didn't really want to write about music very much in 'High Fidelity.' I wanted to write about the relationship stuff, and…

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Where would David Copperfield be if Dickens had gone to writing classes? Probably about seventy minor characters short, is where. (Did you…

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The more screenwriting you do, the more you become aware that particular scenes aren't going to end up in the movie because…

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I don't want anyone writing in to point out that I spend too much money on books, many of which I will…

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I have the same interests as women. Well, apart from football and music, obviously. I've always had as many female friends as…

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Do you ever do that thing where you lie in bed and you can't sleep so you end up writing out recent…

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There's music every day. I don't think I could write without it. Not that I listen while I'm writing. It's more hearing…

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I have always been accused of taking the things I love – football, of course, but also books and records – much…

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“Reading the book now means that one can, if one wants, play Fantasy Literature--match writers off against each other and see who…

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“I don't mind nothing happening in a book, but nothing happening in a phony way--characters saying things people never say, doing jobs…

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Did I do and say these things? Yes, I did. Are there any mitigating circumstances? Not really, unless any circumstances {in other…

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“Dialogue in the works of autobiography is quite naturally viewed with some suspicion. How on earth can the writer remember verbatim conversations…

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“Anyone and everyone taking a writing class knows that the secret of good writing is to cut it back, pare it down,…

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“But sometimes, very occasionally, songs and books and films and pictures express who you are perfectly. And they don’t do this in…

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Writing is about confidence and wondering what the point of anything is.

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But I suspect that all writers come up with premises of some kind, fragments of narrative or scenarios, in the course of…

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I like writing about popular culture. It helps to place people. I think you can be really, really accurate if you know…

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I can't imagine writing a screenplay where I didn't feel deeply connected at some kind of visceral level to the material.

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I think the moment you're writing about somebody who's not exactly you, then the challenge is all equal.

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He would read up on parenting, if he thought it would help, but his errors always seemed too basic for the manuals.…

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In a way, novel writing is such a permanently student lifestyle. When it comes to movies, and you have to go to…

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More by Nick Hornby

You can wait forever for the muse to sit on your shoulder, but most of the time you know what has to be done…

…I've had a bad week." What's happened?" Nothing's happened. I've had a bad week in my head, is all.

“When they – I cannot bring myself to use the first-person plural in this instance.”

“What you don't ever catch a glimpse of on your wedding day - because how could you? - is that some days you will…

A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You've got to kick off…

I'm still not a very good white wine, but I'm drinkable - you could put me in a punch, anyway.

I never mind the accusations of domesticity, as long as people recognise that all of us, even the luckiest, will live lives in which…

I wasted the 1980s. I wasted every minute at Cambridge talking to people who knew more about music than I did.

“I took her outside on to a little roof terrace that looked like it never got the sun at nay time of the day…

“I feel as though I have been having conversations like this all my life. None of us is young anymore, but what has just…

“I'm OK. Really. I can find people. I'll be all right.”

“Read any women's magazine and you'll see the same complaint over and over again: men - those little boys ten or twenty or thirty…

“Defansçılar her zaman forvetçilerden daha iyi analizcilerdir.”

On New Year's Eve he ould make a resolution to recover some his previous scepticism, but until then he would do as the Romans…

It's no good looking to writers for definitions of what constitutes proper writing, because you will drive yourself crazy, and you won't find anything…