Chevy Stevens Quotes & Sayings

For me, it's important that I experience and feel what the characters are feeling. So I put myself in those moments, in their thoughts, and let it happen naturally. I write what I feel. — Chevy Stevens

As much as writing is an emotional experience, it is a business as well. Coming from a business background, I treat it as such. — Chevy Stevens

For 'Never Knowing,' I outlined it and then blocked it out on my office wall with index cards, but things still happened organically. — Chevy Stevens

In this day and age, you can write anywhere in the world. You can really live anywhere and have the same career. — Chevy Stevens

I didn't go to university or get a degree, but I hired somebody as a mentor - and that I considered my university education. — Chevy Stevens

Time only counts when you have a purpose — Chevy Stevens

It's not like I wake up every morning and just can't wait to write. It is my job. It's much easier to not write. I'd rather read. This is my income. This is what supports my family. Having a child is a pretty big incentive to keep working. — Chevy Stevens

When I started 'Still Missing,' I had a few key plot points in mind, which I played around with mentally for a couple of months, then one day I just started writing. Not having an outline led to some cool plot twists, but also many rewrites! A lot of the plotting happened on subsequent drafts. — Chevy Stevens

Before I start a book, I talk over my characters with a friend who is a counselor. I like to make sure I have the right dynamics in place and understand each character's belief system, fears, coping mechanisms and things like that. — Chevy Stevens

I'm in a weird-ass mood today, Doc. Wired up, mind all over the place, looking for answers, reasons something solid to cling to, something real, but just when I think I've got it figured out and neatly filed under fixed instead of fucked, turns out I'm still shattered, scattered, and battered. But you probably already knew that, didn't you? ... You might not be able to help me. That makes me sad, but not for me. It makes me sad for you. It must be frustrating for a shrink to have a patient who's beyond fixing. That first shrink I saw when I got back to Clayton Falls told me no one is a lost cause, but I think that's bullshit. I think people can be so crushed, so broken, that they'll never be anything more than a fragment of a whole person. (129) — Chevy Stevens

Unfortunately, there's still a lot of beginning writers who think you can just write your first draft and hand it in. — Chevy Stevens

I always write too long in the beginning, then it is a matter of going through it over and over again on subsequent drafts, looking for anything that slows down the narrative. It can be hard, cutting out parts I love, but I try to make the book as tight as possible so that the reader doesn't get bored. — Chevy Stevens

My [story] outlines are usually about 5-6 pages long. I'm essentially telling myself the story in short form. I try to make it clear who the major characters are, what they want, and what obstacles they face. — Chevy Stevens

Read everything you can on writing. Join online forums and critique groups, go to conferences, get feedback, and learn, learn, learn! — Chevy Stevens

You can be as happy as you've ever been in your life, and shit is still going to happen. But it doesn't just happen. It knocks you sideways and crashes you into the ground, because you were stupid enough to believe in sunshine and roses. — Chevy Stevens

If you want to become a writer, you do need to be willing to make sacrifices. — Chevy Stevens

I try to only read light things when I'm working on my books, and in the evenings I watch a lot of mindless TV. I have to break up the 'dark,' or I wouldn't be a very happy person. — Chevy Stevens

It feels wonderful to get praise from other authors who I admire, but with each new book, my confidence is always the thing I struggle with the most until I start getting positive feedback from readers. — Chevy Stevens

Sometimes we have to go through difficult times in life," he said. "But they're just a test, and if we stay strong, we're eventually rewarded. — Chevy Stevens

That first shrink I saw when I got back to Clayton Falls told me no one is a lost cause, but I think that's bullshit. I think people can be so crushed, so broken, that they'll never be anything more than a fragment of a whole person. — Chevy Stevens

Each day when I'm walking with my dog through the damp forest, I'm thinking about the atmosphere, and it often works its way into my next scene somehow. — Chevy Stevens

Pain leaves a mark, the degree depending on the person and the event. — Chevy Stevens

There are all these books that say we create our own destiny and what we believe is what we manifest. You're supposed to walk around with this perpetual bubble over your head thinking happy thoughts and then everything is going to be sunshine and roses. Nope, sorry, don't think so. You can be as happy as you've ever been in your life, and shit is still going to happen. But it doesn't just happen. It knocks you sideways and crushes you into the ground, because you were stupid enough to believe in sunshine and roses. (99) — Chevy Stevens

I hate them for not being in pain like me, hate them for being able to enjoy themselves. Hate myself for feeling that way. — Chevy Stevens

It's impossible, I think, to save everyone, but if we help even one person in our lifetime, then we succeeded. — Chevy Stevens

Some newer writers worry about books set in Canada having a big appeal, but it has never been an issue for me. I haven't wanted to write in the States because I don't know the States. — Chevy Stevens

I was supposed to be cleaning out the barn, but I was usually reading romance novels. That's how you grow up to be a thriller writer. — Chevy Stevens

It's an old church and smells like a museum - in a good way, a survived-lots-of-shit-and-still-standing kind of way. Something about the stained-glass windows works for me too. If I were to get all deep on you, I could say the idea of all those broken pieces being made into something so damn pretty appeals to me. Good thing I'm not that profound. (54) — Chevy Stevens

When I first started writing 'Still Missing,' I didn't actually realize I was writing a thriller. I thought it was more women's fiction, but during the many years of rewrites, I kept taking out the boring parts, and then my agent informed me that I had written a thriller. — Chevy Stevens