Chuck Wendig Quotes & Sayings

A fully-realized and known world is also a boring world. Mystery, alongside conflict, is another of those vital vittles that feeds the reader and keeps them hooked. Question marks are shaped like hooks for a reason, I say
so leave lots of questions. — Chuck Wendig

Put differently, harden the fuck up, soldier. (And beard the fuck on, while we're at it.) — Chuck Wendig

Write as much as you can.
As fast as you can.
Finish your shit.
Hit your deadlines.
Try very hard not to suck. — Chuck Wendig

Your first draft can and should look like a fucking warzone. That's okay. Don't sweat it, because you survived. Put differently, that first draft of yours has permission to suck. Go forth and care not. — Chuck Wendig

Always quick with the wit. It's your defense, isn't it? Little girl doesn't want the world to know how sad she is, how damaged. Your words, your attitude, all a big misdirection. A magician's trick. — Chuck Wendig

He - and Cal - prefer a more generalized outlook on the End Times, recognizing it could come from anything: superstorms, polar shifts, invasion by the Chinese, attack by the U.S. government on its own people, aliens, EMP, God's wrath on a sin-filled world, killer bees. (Chance notes that no one mentions "Rogue AI with a penchant for Greek mythology." He figures someone should update their menu, because it is riding to number one on the charts with a bullet.) — Chuck Wendig

Gotta have a head like a wrecking ball, a spirit like one of them punching clown dummies that always weeble-wobbles back up to standing. This takes time. Stories need to find the right home, the right audience. Stick with it. Quitting is for sad pandas. — Chuck Wendig

He's the meat in the meat locker. The wrecking ball at the end of a crane's chain. The seawall that stands between the ocean and the shore. Big. Bald. Beaten down. — Chuck Wendig

The writer is editor, marketer, blogger, reader, thinker, designer, publisher, public speaker, budget-maker, contract reader, trouble-shooter, coffee-hound, liver-pickler, shame-farmer, god, devil, gibbering protozoa. — Chuck Wendig

And the lone Jedi that exists - the son of Anakin Skywalker - possesses an untouchable soul. At least for now. — Chuck Wendig

Dang, that sounds like a fucking movie and shit. Sleep Hard 4: Sleep Harder. — Chuck Wendig

You don't know what you're doing," Mitchell says. "Poking a stick into a den of snakes." "Poke-poke, motherfuckers." Atlanta pulls the trigger. — Chuck Wendig

A HUG IS LIKE VIOLENCE MADE OF LOVE. — Chuck Wendig

Even a small group of people can change the galaxy. — Chuck Wendig

Story should be a descent
the feeling that there is an intense gravity to the narrative that draws you down, down, down. — Chuck Wendig

War is not a state of being. It is meant to be a temporary chaos between periods of peace. Some want it to be a course of things: a default fact of existence. But I will not let that be so. — Chuck Wendig

Plot is like Soylent Green: it's made of people. — Chuck Wendig

Chewie hugs him and purrs. "I'll be back. We're not done, you and I. We'll see each other again. I'm gonna be a father and no way my kid won't have you in his life." One more bark and yip as Chewie pets his head. "Yeah, pal. I know." He sighs. "I love you, too. — Chuck Wendig

And no hope is greater than that of the Wookiees of Kashyyyk. Heroes of the Rebellion Han Solo and Chewbacca have gathered a team of smugglers and scoundrels to free Kashyyyk from its Imperial slavers once and for all. — Chuck Wendig

Stories have the power to make people feel. To give a shit. To change their opinions. To change the world. — Chuck Wendig

We must remember that our fight continues. Our rebellion is over. But the war ... the war is just beginning. - ADMIRAL ACKBAR — Chuck Wendig

May the Force be with you, mister."
"You too, kid. You too. — Chuck Wendig

He has never won a game of Galactic Expansion against the repurposed interrogator droid. But he's close now. It's never been this close. — Chuck Wendig

We need to get back to the Alliance - " She corrects herself. That's old thinking. "The New Republic. — Chuck Wendig

Between them an image is projected: a single, winking cursor. It wants a code. It wants the code. — Chuck Wendig

The audience wants a safety blanket. It's the storyteller's job to take that safety blanket and choke them with it until they experience a profound narrative orgasm. — Chuck Wendig

The Empire pretends it's about law and order, but at the end of the day, it's about dressing up oppression in the costume of justice. The — Chuck Wendig

Crayola makes all kinds of crazy colors. You know. Burnt umber. Burnt sienna. Blanched almond. Baby-shit yellow. And so on, and so forth. I'm just saying, cockroaches Have their own color. It's distinct. Crayola should get on that. The kids'll love it. — Chuck Wendig

The Empire's weapon may be destroyed, but the Empire itself lives on. — Chuck Wendig

In the darkness, a red lightsaber rises from its hilt. — Chuck Wendig

Everything means something, but not every something matters. — Chuck Wendig

He is less a human-shaped thing and more a pulsing, living band of light. Light that sometimes dims, that sometimes is thrust through with a vein of darkness. She tells herself that it's normal - Luke said to her, Leia, we all have that. He explained that the brighter the light, the darker the shadow. Right — Chuck Wendig

I'm old enough to remember when the Republic shot itself right in the knee. It wasn't taken over by the Empire. It became the Empire slowly, surely, not overnight but over years and decades. Fruit always tastes nice when it's ripe. But it can't stay like that. Every nice piece of fruit will rot on the branch if it hangs there long enough. You remember that. — Chuck Wendig

You wouldn't call yourself a runner if you quit every race your ran halfway through. — Chuck Wendig

From the box, he withdraws a helmet. Pitted and pocked, as if with some kind of acid. But still - he raps his knuckles on it. The Mandalorians knew how to make armor, didn't they? "Look at this," he says, holding it up. "Mandalorian battle armor. Whole box. Complete set, by the looks of it. Been through hell and back. I think my boss will appreciate this. — Chuck Wendig

Not every writer needs a plan, but in my experience many believe they don't need a plan when, frankly, they do. I was that kind of writer: I thought, ha ha ha, stupid people saying I should outline or do preparatory work, those silly assholes with their misunderstanding of my genius. If you find you're lost in the woods of your own fiction and feel like giving up
it might be because you have no plan. You can retrofit one. Doing that will help put you back on track and give your current writing a jolt of needed organization. — Chuck Wendig

Some of life's best moments are during a good bowel movement, and to have that robbed from you, I can't even imagine. — Chuck Wendig

Rebellions work. We've seen it. We've helped make it happen. — Chuck Wendig

Dialogue is a little bit jazz, a little bit hand-to-hand combat. — Chuck Wendig

The boy is young, only twelve standard years, not old enough to fight. Not yet. He looks to his father with pleading eyes. Over the din he yells: "But the battle station was destroyed, Dad! The battle is over!" They just watched it only an hour before. The supposed end of the Empire. The start of something better. The confusion in the boy's shining eyes is clear: He doesn't understand what's happening. But Rorak does. He's heard tales of the Clone Wars - tales spoken by his own father. He knows how war goes. It's not many wars, but just one, drawn out again and again, cut up into slices so it seems more manageable. — Chuck Wendig

Learn from your existence and borrow things from your day to day. Have adventures. Take risks. Put yourself into your fiction. Because life offers a kind of writing advice you just can't read about
it's something only you can experience. — Chuck Wendig

Sir, I don't want this to get ugly." "Have you seen your face, guardsman? Too late to wish for pretty." Temmin — Chuck Wendig

The Muse is not real. Relying on the Muse is like leaning on a crutch made of playing cards. — Chuck Wendig

The future is suddenly unpinned - evolving, spinning, leaping about like a panicked tree-loormor. — Chuck Wendig

She gets on her tippy-toes and kisses him. Long, slow, deep. The kind of kiss where you can feel little pieces of your soul trading places as mouths open and breath mingles. — Chuck Wendig

suddenly he's forced to wonder if each Jawa is just a fraternity of wet rats gathering together under brown robes and a black face veil. — Chuck Wendig

And oh, could he smell them. It wasn't just the stench of body sweat. It was the rancid odor of human meat. With every breath they gave it off. Blood under their tongue. Long pork between their teeth. Eau de cannibal. — Chuck Wendig

Mood is painted in the margins: you create the image by negative space, dancing around it without ever saying it. 9. — Chuck Wendig

You look nervous."
"I'm ... a little nervous."
"You'll be fine. You're pretty. You're alien. You'll trend well. — Chuck Wendig

They raise their blasters as she lowers hers. "I'm sorry, Captain," she says. Then, to her backup: "Arrest him. Take him to detention level - No. Wait." She snaps her fingers. "Have him shackled and taken to my shuttle. Have a medical droid in attendance." With a stiff smile she says (as if for his approval): "We are not animals. — Chuck Wendig

If ever she is to die, it should be out here, in space. Born from stardust, returned to stardust. — Chuck Wendig

Thankfully, it's she who spoke. Not the skeleton. Because ... gross. — Chuck Wendig

The Empire is just a skin we wear, you see. A shell. It's not just about law and order. It's about total control. — Chuck Wendig

Somehow, the remaining factions of the Empire are still fueling their war effort even months after the destruction of their second battle station. — Chuck Wendig

PREPARE TO FIRE ALL CANNONS," Bones says - his voice warping so that it has a strange, hard-angle accent to it. "COMMENTARY: I SAY WE BLAST THE MEATBAG AND SAVE YOU THE TROUBLE, MASTER. — Chuck Wendig

Democracy is not in need of defense. People are. — Chuck Wendig

All under the pretense of military application."
He pouts. "No pretense about it. Remember, the Internet was a military application. And now look at how it's changed our culture. — Chuck Wendig

A good life lesson is not to take strange meat from strange people. "You're — Chuck Wendig

Things happen in this life. Sometimes they're good things, and sometimes they're bad things. You have to come to terms with the bad things, especially when you can't change them. — Chuck Wendig

Don't judge me, Captain Judgeypants. I go there for the sandwiches.) — Chuck Wendig

Shut up and write. — Chuck Wendig

Repeat the mantra: Writing is when I make the words. Editing is when I make them not shitty. — Chuck Wendig

It's happening," he says. "Jakku." "I know." "It's gonna be one helluva battle. It might get bad." "I know that, too." He chews his lip. "It feels weird, doesn't it?" "Not being there, you mean." "Yeah. You, me, Luke. Chewie. The Falcon. Those two walking talking garbage cans. It feels weird we're not part of it." "We've got our own adventure." She pats her belly. "End of an era," he says. "And the start of a new one. — Chuck Wendig

Coffee Fuck you, coffee IS TOO a virtue. Do not deny me this. Do not dare! — Chuck Wendig

THE HOT WATER'S a scorcher and the cold water's like a winter puddle, and the shower offers nothing in between. — Chuck Wendig

Writers are made
forged, really, in a kiln of their own madness and insecurities
over the course of many, many moons. The writer you are when you begin is not the same as the writer you become. — Chuck Wendig

Personal opinion time: some of the bravest, strangest, coolest stories right now are being told in the young adult space. It's stuff that doesn't fly by tropes or adhere to rules
appropriate, perhaps, since young adults tend to flick cigarettes in the eyes of the rules and don't play by social norms as much as adults do. — Chuck Wendig

The desire for perfection is like a pit of wet coal silt: it will grab your boots like iron hands and never let you go. 13. — Chuck Wendig

The tyrant Palpatine is dead. But the fight isn't over. The war goes on even as the Empire's power diminishes. But we are here for you. Know that wherever you are, no matter how far out into the Outer Rim you dwell, the New Republic is coming to help. Already we've captured dozens of Imperial capital ships and Destroyers - — Chuck Wendig

Science is trumped by ignorance when the ignorant are given a vote. — Chuck Wendig

He wasn't supposed to feel this way. He didn't even want to feel the way he did for the dog, for Creampuff
Goddamnit
Goddamnit
"Goddamnit!" he snarled. Ginger blinked. Incredulous he explained: "They took my dog, Ginger. They stole my terrier." He popped each of his knuckles. "They didn't just abandon me after I got them through, after I kept them alive. They rubbed salt on my wound while they pissed in my eyes. I can't believe they stole my dog."
Coburn grabbed the kid by his all too-clean shirt and shook him like a baby. "Listen. You're going to drive me to go get Creampuff, my terrier ... — Chuck Wendig

The stretching, yearning stalks hiss against the boat's bottom, making a white noise that sounds like pollen coming out of a piss-blizzard. — Chuck Wendig

That is war. It is the placement of ships. It is the advantages and disadvantages of those placements. It's about how you move, how you fire, what weapons you bring. Every piece fits into the larger whole: ammunition in a blaster, blaster in a pilot's hand, pilot inside a starfighter or frigate. Everything is a resource. How do you expend them? In what direction? At a distance, war is a game, however deadly - usher this ship there, that ship here, converge, fire, dominate, defend. But — Chuck Wendig

A lady should be respectful," is all he manages through gritted teeth. He pitches the towel in the corner.
Miriam snorts. "That's me. My fair fuckin' lady. — Chuck Wendig

You fool," she says. "You eager, egotistical fool. Grand Moff. Pfah. You have so much, so wrong. The Ravager is not the last weapon. Nor do I even control it. There is ... another." His face twitches. "You don't mean ... " "I do mean. He's not dead." "But you said he was." "I lied." She shrugs. "This was ... all his plan. Wasn't it? I should've seen it. I fell for a trap. We all fell for your trap. You betrayer. You foul, wretched betrayer. — Chuck Wendig

My name's Mapo," the boy says. "Mesa Jar Jar. — Chuck Wendig

Storytellers think they're writing for the audience. They're writing, in a way, to hurt the audience. — Chuck Wendig

He's built like a brick shithouse made of a hundred smaller brick shithouses. — Chuck Wendig

Rejection has value. It teaches us when our work or our skillset is not good enough and must be made better. This is a powerful revelation, like the burning UFO wheel seen by the prophet Ezekiel, or like the McRib sandwich shaped like the Virgin Mary seen by the prophet Steve Jenkins. Rejection refines us. Those who fall prey to its enervating soul-sucking tentacles are doomed. Those who persist past it are survivors. Best ask yourself the question: what kind of writer are you? The kind who survives? Or the kind who gets asphyxiated by the tentacles of woe? — Chuck Wendig

Writing is the act of creation. Put words on a page, words to sentences, sentences to paragraphs, paragraphs to seven-book epic fantasy cycles with books so heavy you could choke a hippo. But don't give writing too much power, either. A wizard controls his magic; it doesn't control him. — Chuck Wendig

Your best authorial self is always one about to ruin the story. — Chuck Wendig

This is a terrible plan," he says to Han Solo - Solo, who crouches down so as not to be seen. Han Solo, the jerk. The very handsome, very charismatic jerk. "And I hate you very much. — Chuck Wendig

What...what are you?" she asked.
"I'm Batman. — Chuck Wendig

Earth is home to more than twelve thousand species of ants. If you weighed all the ants and all the humans, the ants would weigh more. — Chuck Wendig

He watches a vid of Brin reading from the Journal of the Whills: "The truth in our soul, Is that nothing is true. The question of life Is what then do we do? The burden is ours To penance, we hew. The Force binds us all From a certain point of view." Addar fails to understand what it means, but he admits: He enjoys listening to Brin. — Chuck Wendig

Mmph! Mmph. Translation: The Emperor will have your heads for this. — Chuck Wendig

It's a fucking Fiero, dude. It's twenty years old. It has 150,000 miles on it, which is practically what it takes to get to the moon. I'm going to bet if I open this thing up, it's going to smell like stale Drakkar Noir and chemical pine scent. There is probably a dead rat in the trunk. Maybe a whole nest of dead rats and rat babies." She finishes her drawing. (Spoiler alert: it's a penis.) "You should really be paying me to take this burden of Detroit steel off your hands. — Chuck Wendig

How do you steal a Republic? By convincing its people that they cannot govern themselves - that freedom is their enemy and that fear is their ally. — Chuck Wendig

The Empire is in chaos. As the old order crumbles, the fledgling New Republic seeks a swift end to the galactic conflict. Many Imperial leaders have fled from their posts, hoping to escape justice in the farthest corners of known space. — Chuck Wendig

Hollis Copper knows that everyone has a story and if you want to speak to someone, you better find a way to speak to his or her story. — Chuck Wendig

A storyteller makes us feel something. Makes us give a shit when we have no good reason to do so. Fun is not the last stop on the story train. The storyteller is master manipulator. The storyteller is cackling puppetmaster. — Chuck Wendig

Not it. Her. Give the Falcon some respect, kid. — Chuck Wendig

Conflict is the food that feeds the reader. It's a spicy hell-broth that nourishes. — Chuck Wendig

Do not assume tomorrow will come. Car crash, heart attack, panda mauling; no promises that you'll see the day after today. What you do get is today. You're here right now, so don't waste it. Today is always the day you have. Tomorrow is always a day away. Something-something — Chuck Wendig

Did you just say shrug instead of actually shrugging? — Chuck Wendig

Chewbacca's back home, looking for his family. Luke's searching the galaxy for old Jedi teachings. Han Solo's got nothing to smuggle, nowhere to gamble, no foolish Rebellion to fight for. He's like the Falcon: retired to a hangar somewhere, waiting for something, anything, to happen. — Chuck Wendig

People like the illusion of choice. Gives them comfort in these strange times. — Chuck Wendig

Here are the two states in which you may exist: person who writes, or person who does not. If you write: you are a writer. If you do not write: you are not. Aspiring is a meaningless null state that romanticizes Not Writing. It's as ludicrous as saying, "I aspire to pick up that piece of paper that fell on the floor." Either pick it up or don't. I don't want to hear about how your diaper's full. Take it off or stop talking about it. — Chuck Wendig

For it is time to return home. It is time to return democracy to the galaxy. — Chuck Wendig

I am going to do what every wife must do now and again," she says. "I am going to go rescue my husband. — Chuck Wendig