You don't write because someone sets assignments! You write because you need to write, or because you hope someone will listen or because writing will mend something broken inside you or bring something back to life.
Interpretation
Writing is driven by a personal need rather than external expectations.
In this quote, Joanne Harris emphasizes the intrinsic motivation behind writing. It suggests that true writers are not compelled by assignments or external pressures; instead, they write from a deep inner necessity. This act of writing serves various purposes, such as healing emotional wounds, expressing thoughts, or reviving dormant ideas, highlighting the profound relationship between the writer and their craft.
In practice
In a writing workshop, when discussing the creative process.
One of the things that writing has taught me is that fiction has a life of its own. Fictional places are sometimes more real than the view from our bedroom window. Fictional people can sometimes become as close to us as our loved ones.
If you can still write in spite of the fact that you're not getting paid, that nobody cares about what you're writing, that nobody wants to publish it, that everybody is telling you to do something else, and you still want to and you still enjoy it and you can't stop doing it...then you're a writer.
If you can actually get someone to sit on the edge of their seat and feel nervous if there's a knock at the door, then you've done something pretty terrific as a writer.
It isn't just a village. The houses aren't just places to live. Everything belongs to everybody. Everyone belongs to everyone else. Even a single person can make a difference.
I'm always drawn to stories that people don't know about, particularly when they're inside of a story that everyone knows about.
Sometimes I write about my own life. And sometimes I write about situations I see my friends going through. Sometimes I write about a scene I saw in a movie. I take inspiration from all different places.
Whenever I start writing, I try to put together songs that feed the feeling of the movie.
Writing a novel is not so much a project as a journey, a voyage, an adventure.
I first knew Laurie Lewis by her considerable reputation as a fiddle player and a writer of songs. When an opportunity came along to sing with her I seized it. Getting to know her as a singer and a person has been pure pleasure. Her voice is a rare combination of grit and grace, strength and delicacy. Her stories are always true.
I belong to this notebook and this pencil.
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