26 Quotes by Terry Pratchett about Writing

  • Author Terry Pratchett
  • Quote

    When people say "How do you write a book, how does it all happen?" I say, you line things up, and you line them up as actually as you possibly can, but sooner or later the book has got momentum and it's moving along under that momentum. It's like a sculpture, if you're working with the grain of the wood, the wood will start defining what shape it's going to become.

  • Tags
  • Share

  • Author Terry Pratchett
  • Quote

    An author writes a book, and that's the book at that point. And if the author writes the book again, then somehow something has gone wrong, if you see what I mean.

  • Tags
  • Share

  • Author Terry Pratchett
  • Quote

    The point is that descriptive writing is very rarely entirely accurate and during the reign of Olaf Quimby II as Patrician of Ankh-Morpork some legislation was passed in a determined attempt to ?put a stop to this sort of thing and introduce some honest.

  • Tags
  • Share

  • Author Terry Pratchett
  • Quote

    I have to write because if I don't get something down then after a while I feel it's going to bang the side of my head off.

  • Tags
  • Share


  • Author Terry Pratchett
  • Quote

    I'm a fantasy writer, called a fantasy writer. But there's very little, apart from one or two basic concepts in 'I Shall Wear Midnight,' which are in fact fantasy. You have sticks that fly, but they're practical broomsticks, with a bloody great strap that you can hold on to so you don't fall off. And you try not to use them too often.

  • Tags
  • Share

  • Author Terry Pratchett
  • Quote

    Fantasy doesn't have to be fantastic. American writers in particular find this much harder to grasp. You need to have your feet on the ground as much as your head in the clouds. The cute dragon that sits on your shoulder also craps all down your back, but this makes it more interesting because it gives it an added dimension.

  • Tags
  • Share