List of Charles de Lint Quotes

The Thing I Like So Much About Short Stories Is That There Isn't As Much Of An Investment Of Time So I'm Free To Experiment More. If It Doesn't Work Out, I've Only Lost A Week Or Two Of Work. If I Screw Up A Novel I've Lost At Least A Year's Worth Of Work. But The Nice Thing Is That Those Experiments With Short Stories Can Be Carried Over To Novels When The Experiments Do Work.

Writing Music Uses A Whole Different Process That Involves A Lot Of Noodling And Just Seeing What Comes.

The Real Trouble Comes From Not Knowing What We Really Want In The First Place.

I'm Really Bad At Describing My Books. Journalists Like To Have Things Like "it's The Terminator Meets The Seven Dwarfs." And I Can't Do That With My Books. If I Could, I Probably Wouldn't Write Them.

I'd Say That Any Character Or Setting Can Be Given A Bit Of An Otherworldly Sheen And Be The Better For It. The One Thing I Insist On With My Own Writing Is That I Won't Let Magic Solve My Characters' Real World Problems. The Solutions Have To Come From The Characters Themselves.

It May Sound Trite, But Using The Weapons Of The Enemy, No Matter How Good One's Intentions, Makes One The Enemy.

I Always Feel That There Is A Curtain, You Know, That If I Could Just Peek Behind The Curtain I'd See How The World Really Works. And Since I Haven't Had It I Have To Write About It Instead.

Music's Always Part Of My Writing. I Think All Art Is Interconnected. You Can't Create Or Experience One Without Its Influences Bleeding Into Another. In My Writing, Music's Mostly Something That Feeds My Inspiration And Mood While I'm Writing, But It's Also Taught Me How To Score Scenes And Even Novels. The Rise And Fall Of The Storyline Echoes The Flow Of A Good Piece Of Music.

I Find The Characters In My Head And The More I Write About Them, The Better I Get To Know Them.

My Characters Seem Real Because They Are Drawn From The Realities Of My Life. I Didn't Have To Research Their Pain; I Just Tapped Into My Own.

A Body Of Work May Be Reviled - Mostly By Those Who Have No Knowledge Of Its Workings - And Yet Still Carry Elements Of What Can Only Be Considered Eternal Truths.

I'm Pretty Much Fixated On Certain Themes. Family, But It's Family Of Choice As Much As Family Of Blood. Individuality, Yes, But Not At The Cost Of Others' Happiness. Be True To Your Friends. Remembering To Find Some Wonder And Hope In The World. Basically It Boils Down To: Treat People Like You'd Like Them To Treat You, Leave The World A Little Better Than It Was When You Got Here, Respect Others And Stand Up For Those Who Can't Stand Up For Themselves.