106 Quotes by Peter Straub

Milwaukee was a fascinating place. When I was a kid, it was basically a blue-collar, factory kind of town, lots of bars, lots of fights.

My father soon began taking me, then my brothers and me, to our local public library, which allowed a maximum withdrawal of six books at a time.

Marriages was written at the rate of 500 words a day, without any sort of plan, outline or guidelines beyond the simple desire to write a novel.

I want to make discoveries, I want the book to evolve out of itself, because if I try to impose my own pattern on it I'll miss everything.

Nobody can protect anybody else from vileness. Or from pain. All you can do is not let it break you in half and keep on going until you get to the other side.

I almost always write everything the way it comes out, except I tend much more to take things out rather than put things in. It's out of a desire to really show what's going on at all times, how things smell and look, as well as from the knowledge that I don't want to push things too quickly through to climax; if I do, it won't mean anything. Everything has to be earned, and it takes a lot of work to earn.

Each new book is a tremendous challenge.

Close your mouth and get out of the way, because here comes Kelly Link, than whom no one is better.

Could you defeat a cloud, a dream, a poem?