You don't need a time machine if you know how to remember. Rodman Philbrick More Quotes by Rodman Philbrick More Quotes From Rodman Philbrick I don't have any of the answers, son. Never did. All I can do is keep asking the questions. Keep trying to make sense of why people do what they do. Rodman Philbrick tryingpeopleson I never had a brian till freak came along. Rodman Philbrick brianfreak You ever notice how long it takes for things to happen when you know they're supposed to happen? My fake Walkman has a built-in alarm, and I set it for two in the morning and wear the headphones to bed, but before you can wake up you have to fall asleep, and I never DO fall asleep because I keep waiting for the alarm to go off. Rodman Philbrick morningtwofall The future is like the moon. You never expect to go there, or think about what it might be like. Rodman Philbrick moonmightthinking I think in some way it's like that for all of us, living with the ghosts of things that used to be, or never were. We're all of us haunted by yesterday, and we got no choice but to keep marching into our tomorrows. Rodman Philbrick choicesyesterdaythinking Remembering is a great invention of the mind. Rodman Philbrick great-inventionsmindremember I started writing stories in sixth grade. But writing wasn't cool, like being good at sports, or being part of the in crowd, or winning fights on the playground. Rodman Philbrick goodcoolwinningsports After I had written more than a dozen adult genre novels, an editor I knew in New York asked me to write a mystery for young adults. Rodman Philbrick newmemysterynew-york I vividly remember my sixth-grade classroom. I remember what it smelled like, where I sat, what I could see out the window, and how I felt about things. Peel away my decrepit middle-aged exterior, and an important part of me is still twelve years old. It helps me when I sit down to write stories for kids. Rodman Philbrick downmerememberwindow As a writer, I'm convinced that encouraging children to write fiction, to hook into that marvelous machine called the imagination, has to be good for everyone. Rodman Philbrick everyonegoodimaginationchildren I wanted to make the world of 'The Last Book in the Universe' as real as possible, so I spent a lot of time thinking about it. I decided the world would be a very different place, but people would be pretty much the same. Rodman Philbrick timepeopleworldthinking As a kid, books were my great escape and my salvation. Rodman Philbrick escapekidgreatsalvation Unfortunately, the author of a book pretty much gives up control of the story when the producers take over a book to make it into a movie. Rodman Philbrick controlprettystorybook I am an avid fisherman, and my daily schedule is to write in the morning and then go fishing in the afternoon. In Maine, I fish mostly for stripers, and in the Florida Keys, I go after all kinds of game fish. Rodman Philbrick dailyi-amgamemorning My parents were avid readers. Both had ambitions to write that had been abandoned early in life in order to get on with life. Rodman Philbrick writeparentsearlylife So long as you tell a story that falls within the fairly generous boundaries of the suspense novel, you're free to make the novel as good as you can. You're allowed to challenge the reader. You can experiment with voice and style. Rodman Philbrick goodyoustylelong I assumed 'Freak the Mighty' was probably too weird and melodramatic to find a publisher. I certainly never expected the book to have a profound influence on my career as a writer, but indeed it has. Rodman Philbrick weirdneverinfluencebook You can't mess around with young readers - you have to cut straight to the heart of the story. The character can be complex, the plot can have some surprises, but the emotions have to be clear. Rodman Philbrick emotionsyouheartcharacter What surprised me most about the Donner tragedy was that, given the terrible circumstances, how anyone survived at all. Rodman Philbrick howmetragedycircumstances There is no greater compliment for a writer than to have pleased a troubled child. Rodman Philbrick troubledthanchildcompliment
