There's an old saying: 'No piece of writing is ever finished, it's just abandoned.' But my own rule is: No piece of work is done until you want to kill everyone involved in the publishing process, especially yourself.
Chuck PalahniukRead
My teacher Tom Spanbauer, the man who got me started writing in his workshop, used to say: 'Writers write because they weren't invited to a party.' That always struck so true, and people always nod their heads when they hear that. Especially writers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers create because they feel excluded from social events, which drives them to express themselves through their craft.
This quote reflects the idea that many writers are motivated by feelings of social exclusion or the desire for connection that they don't experience in traditional social settings. It suggests that writing can be a way to process these feelings and create a sense of community or understanding through shared experiences and narratives. The acknowledgment from fellow writers reinforces the common bond of feeling like outsiders, which often fuels their creativity.
Themes
WritingCreativityExclusionExpressionCommunity
In practice
Example use cases
During a writer's workshop, you could share this quote to discuss the motivations behind your writing.
More from Chuck Palahniuk
All quotes →Griping isn't the same as creating something. Rebelling isn't rebuilding. Ridiculing isn't replacing. We've taken the world apart but we have no idea what to do with the pieces.
Chuck PalahniukRead
If we can forgive what’s been done to us... If we can forgive what we’ve done to others... If we can leave all of our stories behind. Our being villains or victims. Only then can we maybe rescue the world.
Chuck PalahniukRead
We're all trapped. It's always 1734. All of us, we're stuck in the same time capsule, the same as those television shows where the same people are marooned on the same desert island for thirty seasons and never age or escape. They just wear more makeup. In a creepy way, those shows are maybe too authentic.
Chuck PalahniukRead
One thing I really envy about my friends who have kids is that as their children develop, they're able to revisit their own developmental stages and recognise themselves and undo a lot of things they decided.
Chuck PalahniukRead
If you knew that your life was merely a phase or short, short segment of your entire existence, how would you live? Knowing nothing 'real' was at risk, what would you do? You'd live a gigantic, bold, fun, dazzling life. You know you would. That's what the ghosts want us to do - all the exciting things they no longer can.
Chuck PalahniukRead
Similar quotes
Fortunately, the world is full of people with information compulsion who want to tell you their stories. They want to tell you things that you don't know. They're some of the greatest allies that any writer has.
Tom WolfeRead
I was six when my mother taught me the art of invisible strength..."strongest wind cannot be seen."
Amy TanRead
A man must not always tell all, for that be folly; but what a man says should be what he thinks.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Forgiveness is a selective remembering. It is a conscious choice to focus on someone's innocence instead of his or her mistakes...This serves *you*...Your body was not created to bear the burden of your overattachment to it, but was created as a container for the light of your spirit. It will more easily remember how to function perfectly when you remember the perfection in everyone.
Marianne WilliamsonRead
Feminine power is silent, dark, mysterious, healing, nurturing. A woman can walk into a room and control it. She doesn't even have to open her mouth if she knows where her power is.
Iyanla VanzantRead
The only guide to a man's conscience, the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions.
Winston ChurchillRead