Cold Quote by Karl Marlantes

I wrote a novel about the combat experiences I didn't have in Vietnam.

— Tracy Kidder

I knew for years I wanted to write a novel that addressed the personal trauma of my older sister, who suffered - and still…

— David Means

I wrote my first script, which was 50 pages, at age 15. It was about two brothers in love with the same nurse while…

— Cary Fukunaga

The first book was my first attempt at writing full-length prose.

— Neil Simon

It took me 14 years to write poems about Vietnam. I had never thought about writing about it, and in a way I had…

— Yusef Komunyakaa

At thirty-five, having spent over twenty years running varied businesses for my family, I decided to sit down and write my first novel. I…

— Ashwin Sanghi

I never thought I would write an autobiography, probably because my first novel, Go Now, is really all drawn from my life, even though…

— Richard Hell

I began my first novel when I was 15. It went through three drafts, of around 40,000 words each. If I find it, I'll burn it.

— Charles Stross

When I wrote War Against the Mafia as a Vietnam statement, I didn't expect much to come of it-but quite a bit came and…

— Don Pendleton

You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying in the road.

— Richard Price

I've been writing for a long time. I sat down to write my first novel in the middle of March of 1982.

— J. A. Jance

I always find out after the fact that the books I've been writing were actually some sort of therapy, some sort of, you know,…

— Blake Crouch