Write because you love it and not because it is something that you think you should do. Always write about something or somebody you know about - something that you feel deeply and passionately about. Never try and force it.
Interpretation
Write for the love of it, not out of obligation, and write about what you genuinely care about.
This quote emphasizes the importance of passion and authenticity in writing. Michael Morpurgo suggests that true creativity comes from a place of love and personal connection to the subject, rather than from external pressures or obligations. By encouraging writers to express their feelings and experiences, he advocates for a more genuine and fulfilling approach to the craft.
In practice
This quote could be used in a creative writing workshop to inspire participants to find their authentic voice.
There is the myth that writing books for children is easier than writing books for grownups, whereas we know that truly great books for children are works of genius, whether it's 'Alice in Wonderland' or the 'Gruffalo' or 'Northern Lights.' When it's a great book, it's a great book, whether it's for children or not.
Strange questions are the more interesting ones. Children by and large don't try to trip you up... they want to find out how you do this funny thing that you do... if they've loved a story they love to know how it started.
Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children.
It is really important that focusing on things such as spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting doesn't inhibit the creative flow. When I was at school there was a huge focus on copying and testing and it put me off words and stories for years.
The most important thing is to live an interesting life. Keep your eyes, ears and heart open. Talk to people and visit interesting places, and don't forget to ask questions. To be a writer you need to drink in the world around you so it's always there in your head.
Poetry is only secondarily about words. Primarily, it is about truth. I dealt with the Ding an Sich, the substance behind the shadow, weaving powerful concepts, similes, and connections the way an engineer would raise a skyscraper with the whiskered-alloy skeleton being constructed long before the glass and plastic and chromaluminum appears.
The only way to avoid being unhappy is to close yourself up in Art and to count for nothing all the rest.
Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
Are artists the canaries in the mine, warning of the coming explosion before anyone else? It's hard to look at the world before 1914 and not wonder if they somehow felt a catastrophe was bearing down on them and their societies.
An artist is somebody who enters into competition with God.
It was not in me It came and went I wanted to hold it It was held by wine (I no longer know what it was)
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