What was the worst thing you've ever done? I won't tell you that, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me...the most dreadful thing. Peter Straub More Quotes by Peter Straub More Quotes From Peter Straub I write longer sentences than most of the others, maybe because I probably like Henry James more than they do. Peter Straub sentences writing Each new book is a tremendous challenge. Peter Straub new-books challenges book The actual Blue Rose murders, which lie at the core of the three novels, yield various incorrect solutions which assume the status of truth. Peter Straub yield blue lying 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. Peter Straub smell writing mean My first real breakthrough collided with the last months of Callaghan's Labour government, which had every intention of enjoying my success as much as I did. Peter Straub government real success An average working day begins at 8 or 9 am, includes an hour for lunch, and ends at 5 or 6 pm. Peter Straub pms lunch average I was once told by a very well-respected editor, "Category horror is about good vs. evil, that's all it is." And I thought, "That's why it's no good. That's why I find that stuff unreadable." One is looking for something that's a little more emotionally complex and nuanced. Peter Straub horror evil You cannot overestimate the role of intuition in fiction writing. Or the role of accident or randomness. These things are very central. This is never really admitted. You have to cover the pages. You have to have those people do things. And the things they do have to be relevant to the entire concern. The specific things they do don't much matter, you just have to have them do something that counts. Peter Straub intuition writing people I wish I could go back and re-write my first novel for the first time. Because I really didn't know what I was doing, and although it was published, it is, after all this time, kind of an embarrassment. Peter Straub embarrassment kind wish I always think about the books I'm doing in pretty much the same way. I'm simply trying to write that particular novel as well as that particular novel can be written. I want to listen to what it is telling me, trying to figure out what it wants to do as much as what I want to do with it. There's a negotiation that's constant and ongoing between me and the material I'm working with, because I'm trying to listen to it. Peter Straub writing book thinking Dick Dart emerged from the ether during a flight from New York with my wife and children to Puerto Rico. Peter Straub new wife new-york children As soon as I started writing Julia, by which I mean while writing its first sentence, I felt a sudden, reassuring charge of excitement. I knew it was going to work. Peter Straub excitement work writing mean
