Harlan Coben Writing Quotes & Sayings

In the Netherlands now, I imagine it's legal to marry your own children. Get them pregnant, and you can abort your unborn grandbabies in a free clinic that used to be a church. — David Sedaris

The moods of sadness that come over anyone who takes up art ... these dismal moods have very little compensation. — Edgar Degas

Outlining is not writing. Coming up with ideas is not writing. Researching is not writing. Creating characters is not writing. Only writing is writing. — Harlan Coben

Writing is one of the few activities where quantity will inevitably make quality. The more you write, the better you're going to get at it. — Harlan Coben

Let me back up a little and tell you why I prefer writing to real life: You can rewrite. A novel, for example, can be cleaned up, altered, trimmed, improved. Life, on the other hand, is one big messy rough draft. — Harlan Coben

Does Yggdrasil drink from it because it is the Well of Wisdom, or is it the Well of Wisdom because Yggdrasil drinks from it? — J. Aleksandr Wootton

Frankly I'm fairly boring or fairly busy. Between writing and family, I have little time for anything else. — Harlan Coben

When I'm writing, what I pretend subconsciously is that we're cavemen, we're sitting around the fire, and I'm telling you stories. If I bore you, you're probably going to pick up a big club and hit me over the head. — Harlan Coben

The actual writing time is a lot shorter than the thinking time. I don't do too many notes. I keep it mostly in my head. I usually start writing a new book around January, and it's due October 1. — Harlan Coben

Writing a novel in general is like trying to reach a mountain top you'll never quite reach - so you try again and maybe get a little closer. — Harlan Coben

Far better to give your readers some hints and then allow them to fill in the blanks for themselves. This — Renni Browne

Librarianship is one of the few callings in the world for which is it still possible to feel unqualified admiration and respect. — Jan Struther

Writing isn't about the process. It is about creating. The joy comes not from the process but from the creation. — Harlan Coben

My dad had limitations. That's what my good-hearted mom always told us. He had limitations, but he meant no harm. It was kind of her to say, but he did do harm. — Gillian Flynn

One guy named Lars was writing a six-hundred-page poem on Hitler's last days in the bunker, written from the viewpoint of Eva Braun's dog. His first reading consisted of ten minutes of barking. "It sets the mood," he explained, and he was correct if that mood was to punch him hard in the face. Natalie's — Harlan Coben

If I'm not writing well, I'm not happy. If I'm not spending enough time with my family, I'm not happy. If I'm not connecting to friends or if I don't work out enough ... You get the point. Everything has to be balanced. Nothing should be an extreme. — Harlan Coben

Dinosaurs were huge and powerful; they could not adapt and they died out. And so the big difference between dinosaurs and cockroaches is adaptability: one is able to adjust, while the other, apparently, couldn't ... The same analogy applies to fighting, and probably any other sport. It's not always the strong that survive. It takes brains, guts, tolerance and forward thinking. We've seen this since the beginning of mixed martial arts. — Georges St-Pierre

I don't like hawking 'round other people's memories. That wasn't part of the deal when I was born. — Hugo Pratt

Love is like a slut,
Available for all,
Loyal to no one.. — Himmilicious

Life may show us glimpses of justice. But the vast majority of it, you will find, will be unruled, unregulated, and unjust. You must create your own sense of justice and act from it. Not because the world is just - but because you are just. After all, you are a microcosm of the world. You cannot prevent what the world shall give to you. But you can control yourself." Aidan — Morgan Rice

I don't know; I still like the name Six. Maren
Elizabeth was when I was a different person, and right now Six just feels right. It can be short for something if someone asks."
Sam looks over. "For what? Sixty? — Pittacus Lore

In France, I am the fifth artisan to produce his own chocolate, and the others have been doing it for a long time. — Alain Ducasse

Writing my first book, I think in hindsight I went into it saying, 'It's gonna sell.' I was earning enough to scrape by sometime around a book or two before 'Tell No One.' I moved up from $50,000 to $75,000, then $150,000 for each book. I had never thought I would be doing anything else. I had enough encouragement. — Harlan Coben

I'm not an ageist, and I'm not looking for a man in a certain restrictive age range, however I've found over the years that people younger than me tend to be immature. The problem with this is that, as I get older, all the good men have already been snapped up. — Brett Kiellerop-Morris

I'm not very happy idle. There's always this voice in my head that says, 'I should be writing.' — Harlan Coben

Kate Atkinson is an absolute must-read. I love everything she writes. — Harlan Coben

What I love about the thriller form is that it makes you write a story. You can't get lost in your own genius, which is a dangerous place for writers. You don't want to ever get complacent. If a book starts going too well, I usually know there's a problem. I need to struggle. I need that self-doubt. I need to think it's not the best thing ever. — Harlan Coben