--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am a writer, which means I write…" description: "\"I am a writer, which means I write stories, I write novels, and I would write poetry if I knew how to. I don't want to limit myself.\" — Aleksandar Hemon" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/986/aleksandar-hemon-1490_how_i-am-a-writer-which-means-i-write-storie_430089.jpg" --- # I am a writer, which means I write stories, I write… ![“I am a writer, which means I write stories, I write novels, and I would write poetry if I knew how to. I don't want to limit myself.” quote by Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/986/aleksandar-hemon-1490_how_i-am-a-writer-which-means-i-write-storie_430089.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/986/aleksandar-hemon-1490_how_i-am-a-writer-which-means-i-write-storie_430089.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/986/aleksandar-hemon-1490_how_i-am-a-writer-which-means-i-write-storie_430089.jpg) > “I am a writer, which means I write stories, I write novels, and I would write poetry if I knew how to. I don't want to limit myself.” [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A writer should embrace all forms of storytelling, exploring novels, stories, and poetry without limiting creative ambition. **In simple terms:** Explore all writing forms. Key Takeaway Write freely across genres. Themes creativity writing exploration Mood inspired curious Type literary motivational When to use this quote - novel writing - short stories - poetry workshops - personal essays Key Concepts genre fluidity artistic ambition Questions to Reflect On - Which genre excites you most? - How can you overcome self‑imposed limits? A Different Perspective Fear of failure may hinder trying new forms. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Limits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/limits/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“People who write novels only write them when they have very little else to write”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-markson/people-who-write-novels-only-write-them-when-they-have-very-little/) [David Markson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-markson/) > [I want to write novels. I want to write stories. I want to do the stuff that I became a writer to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-want-to-write-novels-i-want-to-write-stories-i-want-to-do-the-stuff/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I know I'm not a wordsmith. And I don't write poetry. Sometimes I think I should, because it's really helpful. But I always wanted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/candace-bushnell/i-know-i-m-not-a-wordsmith-and-i-don-t-write-poetry-sometimes-i-think/) [Candace Bushnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/candace-bushnell/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [I never outline my novels before I write. I do have a vague sense of beginning, middle, and end at the outset of each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-giffin/i-never-outline-my-novels-before-i-write-i-do-have-a-vague-sense-of/) [Emily Giffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-giffin/) > [We all have a lot of people inside us, yet we get to live only one life. Fiction lets us slip into someone else’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-saylor/we-all-have-a-lot-of-people-inside-us-yet-we-get-to-live-only-one-2/) [Steven Saylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-saylor/) > [We all have a lot of people inside us, yet we get to live only one life. Fiction lets us slip into someone else’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-saylor/we-all-have-a-lot-of-people-inside-us-yet-we-get-to-live-only-one/) [Steven Saylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-saylor/) > [Now you mustn't think that I don't have any ideas for novels in my head. I've got ideas for ten novels in my head.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/italo-calvino/now-you-mustn-t-think-that-i-don-t-have-any-ideas-for-novels-in-my/) [Italo Calvino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/italo-calvino/) > [For all my longer works (i.e. the novels) I write chapter outlines so I can have the pleasure of departing from them later on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-nix/for-all-my-longer-works-i-e-the-novels-i-write-chapter-outlines-so-i/) [Garth Nix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-nix/) > [Well, writing was what I wanted to do, it was always what I wanted to do. I had novels to write so I wrote…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-butler/well-writing-was-what-i-wanted-to-do-it-was-always-what-i-wanted-to/) [Octavia Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-butler/) > [I had novels to write, so I wrote them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-e-butler/i-had-novels-to-write-so-i-wrote-them/) [Octavia E. Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-e-butler/) > [I look at albums like novels. If you write a really good scene or a really good moment, just because you wrote it, doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-stump/i-look-at-albums-like-novels-if-you-write-a-really-good-scene-or-a/) [Patrick Stump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-stump/) > [I hadn't meant to do the pattern of publishing short stories and then a novel. I thought, 'I'm a novelist. I know it.' But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/i-hadn-t-meant-to-do-the-pattern-of-publishing-short-stories-and-then/) [Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/) > [The American people reject the idea of giving Washington a blank check to increase the debt limit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-roby/the-american-people-reject-the-idea-of-giving-washington-a-blank/) [Martha Roby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-roby/) > [The stars are not the limit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanna-bonta/the-stars-are-not-the-limit/) [Vanna Bonta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanna-bonta/) ## More by Aleksandar Hemon > [Even if you tried to extinguish your personality, what is left in the story will reflect it, perhaps by its negation. Our lives provide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/even-if-you-tried-to-extinguish-your-personality-what-is-left-in-the/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [To me there's no difference between a book of stories and a novel - they're just slightly different shapes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/to-me-there-s-no-difference-between-a-book-of-stories-and-a-novel/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [Lord, why did you leave me in these woods?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/lord-why-did-you-leave-me-in-these-woods/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I want to change something. I want to stop the germs from attacking my daughters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-want-to-change-something-i-want-to-stop-the-germs-from-attacking-my/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [Cliché activates the comfortable mental laziness, we sort of revert to the domain of the already-familiar, what we have already imagined so that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/clich-activates-the-comfortable-mental-laziness-we-sort-of-revert-to/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [“The writer does not dare dream of giving the best of his individuality. No, he must never express his anger. The vacillating demands of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/the-writer-does-not-dare-dream-of-giving-the-best-of-his/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I know a lot of people in the city, at all levels, horizontally and vertically - and that to me is a privilege, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-know-a-lot-of-people-in-the-city-at-all-levels-horizontally-and/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [What fiction and art can do, particularly narrative art, is construct consciousness - in a sense, we have to do it for the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/what-fiction-and-art-can-do-particularly-narrative-art-is-construct/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I read everything I could find in English - Twain, Henry James, Hemingway, really everything. And then after a while I started writing shorter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-read-everything-i-could-find-in-english-twain-henry-james-hemingway/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [It was always clear to me that I would have to earn my readers, some I would have to find, some to create.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/it-was-always-clear-to-me-that-i-would-have-to-earn-my-readers-some-i/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I never thought of myself as an outsider. Because outside of what? You would have to give advantage to this space where you're not,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-never-thought-of-myself-as-an-outsider-because-outside-of-what-you/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [There are studies that have shown that we make decisions, ethical and otherwise, based on the way we imagine ourselves as characters in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/there-are-studies-that-have-shown-that-we-make-decisions-ethical-and/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I long for, not a writer's retreat - I can write in any situation - but a reader's retreat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-long-for-not-a-writer-s-retreat-i-can-write-in-any-situation-but-a/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I much preferred winning to thinking and I didn't like losing at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-much-preferred-winning-to-thinking-and-i-didn-t-like-losing-at-all/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [Memory narrativises itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/memory-narrativises-itself/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) [Explore all 236 Aleksandar Hemon quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) ## More How quotes > [You'd be surprised how hard it can often be to translate an action into an idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/you-d-be-surprised-how-hard-it-can-often-be-to-translate-an-action/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [Academically, I was never that interested. 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Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-f-goldberg/) > [I know how hard it is to be a woman, especially a black woman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-tyson/i-know-how-hard-it-is-to-be-a-woman-especially-a-black-woman/) [Mike Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-tyson/) > [This is how McGregor is, waging mental warfare before the fights. There's no way that guy is going to get in my head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chad-mendes/this-is-how-mcgregor-is-waging-mental-warfare-before-the-fights-there/) [Chad Mendes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chad-mendes/) > [I think everyone will agree that it doesn't matter how we get to an international tournament. We are going to do whatever it takes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcginn/i-think-everyone-will-agree-that-it-doesn-t-matter-how-we-get-to-an/) [John McGinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcginn/) > [Troy was a sweet, good man. We just were never destined to be married. We just didn't have the same values. But I'm not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-pleshette/troy-was-a-sweet-good-man-we-just-were-never-destined-to-be-married/) [Suzanne Pleshette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-pleshette/) > [How wonderful it would be to scatter words as they rise to consciousness, to let them lie where they fall.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/how-wonderful-it-would-be-to-scatter-words-as-they-rise-to/) [Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/) > [Pitchers pitch differently. Hitters, hardly anyone has the same stance. That's just how it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-zimmerman/pitchers-pitch-differently-hitters-hardly-anyone-has-the-same-stance/) [Ryan Zimmerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-zimmerman/) > [Everything affects hip-hop. 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