--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Every now and then I'll do little things…" description: "\"Every now and then I'll do little things, a short story or something, that doesn't have any fantastical elements, but mostly I like the power of playin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f2/neil-gaiman-29_elements_every-now-and-then-i-ll-do-little-things_3208275.jpg" --- # Every now and then I'll do little things, a short story or… ![“Every now and then I'll do little things, a short story or something, that doesn't have any fantastical elements, but mostly I like the power of playing God and I like to imagine things.” quote by Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f2/neil-gaiman-29_elements_every-now-and-then-i-ll-do-little-things_3208275.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f2/neil-gaiman-29_elements_every-now-and-then-i-ll-do-little-things_3208275.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f2/neil-gaiman-29_elements_every-now-and-then-i-ll-do-little-things_3208275.jpg) > “Every now and then I'll do little things, a short story or something, that doesn't have any fantastical elements, but mostly I like the power of playing God and I like to imagine things.” [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author enjoys creating stories without fantasy, yet loves the god‑like power of imagining worlds. **In simple terms:** He likes writing realistic tales while feeling the creative power of god‑like imagination. Key Takeaway Blend realism with imaginative freedom. Themes creativity storytelling power imagination Mood playful thoughtful Type inspirational philosophical When to use this quote - Writing exercises - creative workshops Key Concepts World‑building character development genre blending Questions to Reflect On - How do you keep stories believable while exploring power? - What limits does realism impose? A Different Perspective Risk of losing grounded perspective. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Elements](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elements/) [God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god/) [Little things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/little-things/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Short story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/short-story/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/story/) ## Related quotes > [Set your fantasies in the here and now and then, if challenged, claim to be writing Magical Realism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/set-your-fantasies-in-the-here-and-now-and-then-if-challenged-claim/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [What I'd love to do is every now and then go, 'Oh my God, I've got this amazing idea for 'Doctor Who.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/what-i-d-love-to-do-is-every-now-and-then-go-oh-my-god-i-ve-got-this/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Most people can start a short story or a novel. If you're a writer, you can finish them. Finish enough of them, and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/most-people-can-start-a-short-story-or-a-novel-if-you-re-a-writer-you/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/short-stories-are-tiny-windows-into-other-worlds-and-other-minds-and-2/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [The short story is still like the novel's wayward younger brother, we know that it's not respectable - but I think that can also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-short-story-is-still-like-the-novel-s-wayward-younger-brother-we/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [There's definitely a feeling with a short story that it's pure story telling. You're not really worried about theme. You're not going to stay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/there-s-definitely-a-feeling-with-a-short-story-that-it-s-pure-story/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [If writing a novel is a year's exile to a foreign country, writing a short story is a weekend spent somewhere exotic. They're much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/if-writing-a-novel-is-a-year-s-exile-to-a-foreign-country-writing-a/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [My very small part in WATCHMEN is that, every now and then, Alan would phone me: ''Neil, you're an educated man. Where does it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/my-very-small-part-in-watchmen-is-that-every-now-and-then-alan-would/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [The best advice I can give on this is, once it's done, to put it away until you can read it with new eyes.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-best-advice-i-can-give-on-this-is-once-it-s-done-to-put-it-away/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Like some kind of particularly tenacious vampire the short story refuses to die, and seems at this point in time to be a wonderful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/like-some-kind-of-particularly-tenacious-vampire-the-short-story/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [For in the end, the irreality function functions as well in the face of man as in the face of the cosmos. What would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/for-in-the-end-the-irreality-function-functions-as-well-in-the-face/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [“You shouldn't imagine things that you haven't a shred of proof happened...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-meissner/you-shouldn-t-imagine-things-that-you-haven-t-a-shred-of-proof/) [Susan Meissner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-meissner/) > [I believe that dreamers who simply imagine things that would be nice but are not possible don’t sufficiently appreciate the laws of the universe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-dalio/i-believe-that-dreamers-who-simply-imagine-things-that-would-be-nice/) [Ray Dalio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-dalio/) > [Imagination runs out. But it makes sense, right? We probably just imagine things based on what we already know, and we run out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-sloan/imagination-runs-out-but-it-makes-sense-right-we-probably-just/) [Robin Sloan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-sloan/) > [“I wasn't interested in drinking beer or vodka or smoking cigarettes or doing all the other things Greta thinks I can't even imagine. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-rifka-brunt/i-wasn-t-interested-in-drinking-beer-or-vodka-or-smoking-cigarettes/) [Carol Rifka Brunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-rifka-brunt/) ## More by Neil Gaiman > [“People talk about books that write themselves, and it's a lie. Books don't write themselves. It takes thought and research and a backache and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/people-talk-about-books-that-write-themselves-and-it-s-a-lie-books/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“Like all sentient beings, Fat Charlie had a weirdness quotient. 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If all you have is a beginning, then once you've written…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/you-need-more-than-a-beginning-if-you-re-going-to-start-a-book-if-all/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [You can tell the date of an old science fiction novel by every word on the page. Nothing dates harder and faster and more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/you-can-tell-the-date-of-an-old-science-fiction-novel-by-every-word/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“The quickest way is sometimes the longest.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-quickest-way-is-sometimes-the-longest/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“They were spells, spelled with words to make worlds, waiting for me, in the pages of books.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/they-were-spells-spelled-with-words-to-make-worlds-waiting-for-me-in/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Finish what you're writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/finish-what-you-re-writing-whatever-you-have-to-do-to-finish-it/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [What do stars do? They shine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/what-do-stars-do-they-shine/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“What," asked Mr Croup, "do you want?" "What," asked the Marquis de Carabas, a little more rhetorically, "does anyone want?" "Dead things," suggested Mr…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/what-asked-mr-croup-do-you-want-what-asked-the-marquis-de-carabas-a/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [You get on with your own life. Lettie gave it to you. You just have to grow up and try and be worth it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/you-get-on-with-your-own-life-lettie-gave-it-to-you-you-just-have-to/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“Eyes will not see you. Minds will not hold you. 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If it happens that the question which we wish to examine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-le-rond-d-alembert/geometry-which-should-only-obey-physics-when-united-with-it-sometimes/) [Jean le Rond d'Alembert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-le-rond-d-alembert/) > [I find in working always the disturbing intrusion of elements not a part of my most interested vision, and the inevitable obliteration and replacement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hopper/i-find-in-working-always-the-disturbing-intrusion-of-elements-not-a/) [Edward Hopper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hopper/) > [Music and language are a vital element. We, as actors and directors, offer it to people who want to experience it. Sometimes the actual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-branagh/music-and-language-are-a-vital-element-we-as-actors-and-directors/) [Kenneth Branagh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-branagh/) > [Intelligence is a separate gift, for the benefit of students, so that they may think of themselves as intellectual and not very intelligent, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/intelligence-is-a-separate-gift-for-the-benefit-of-students-so-that/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [I don't think that writing, real writing, has much to do with affirming belief--if anything it causes rifts and gaps in belief which make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-evenson/i-don-t-think-that-writing-real-writing-has-much-to-do-with-affirming/) [Brian Evenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-evenson/) > [The proliferation of right-to-carry laws throughout the states has drawn plaintive complaints from the criminal element. They feel that it makes their profession too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-cooper/the-proliferation-of-right-to-carry-laws-throughout-the-states-has/) [Jeff Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-cooper/) > [To me, the most important elements in a theatre are the actors and the texts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naseeruddin-shah/to-me-the-most-important-elements-in-a-theatre-are-the-actors-and-the/) [Naseeruddin Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naseeruddin-shah/) > [Two elements are needed to form a truth - a fact and an abstraction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/remy-de-gourmont/two-elements-are-needed-to-form-a-truth-a-fact-and-an-abstraction/) [Remy de Gourmont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/remy-de-gourmont/) > [In America there is not one single element of civilization that is not made to depend, in the end, upon public opinion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/in-america-there-is-not-one-single-element-of-civilization-that-is/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. 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