New Zealander - Novelist | 1961 -
Truth is seldom appreciated and never understood, whereas a flattering lie is always appreciated and instantly understood.
Anthony McCarten
TruthLieTruth IsNeverAppreciated
My routine is to create activities for myself unrelated to writing that allow little time for writing. This means that when I do get the chance to write, it is like a stolen luxury, something clandestine and almost forbidden.
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Reading is essential to human life. When the last reader dies, humanity will be at an end.
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No murder or sin or act of barbarism or cruelty has ever been committed by a person fully absorbed in the reading of a book. By this fact alone, we can conclude that readers are nicer people, at least until they put the book down. When we are reading, we are better.
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At 17, I wanted to be a rock star.
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The New Zealand sense of humor is tough and realistic. Jokes are not surreal; they are about life and death and tough decisions.
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If we did not have the impulse and ability to believe in the impossible, we would not have religion, democracy, or marriage.
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I am so superstitious that I think even discussing this subject is dangerous and will probably bring me terrible luck. Having been raised a Catholic, superstition becomes almost part of your DNA. The challenge is to slowly rid yourself of these little delusions.
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When I grew up, my house contained only two books: the Bible and the 'Edmonds' cookbook. We were a working-class household. Books were a poor second to the television, which was always on, usually with me in front of it.
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Before Churchill had done anything else, he was a writer. He believed to the core that words matter. They count. They can change the world.
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If you look at the copies of Churchill's speeches that have survived, they are heavily marked up. He was scrupulous about the impact of each word. He preferred short words and the repetition of short words. He knew everything about the techniques of rhetoric.
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There is the cult of the actor and of the director, and there's even been the cult of the celebrity chef and gardener, but there has never been a cult of the screenwriter. But I'm happy about that because what I crave - in a completely venal way - is creative opportunities, not recognition.
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