Walter Jon Williams Quotes
"I found college useful for a lot of other reasons. It exposed me to a great many influences I wouldn't otherwise have encountered, and gave me a lot of time with some very intelligent people whose thoughts are still with me."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Time, People, Thoughts, College)
"I can't speak for the other authors, but what I hoped to achieve was to illuminate certain corners of the Lucas universe that hadn't yet been explored."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Universe)
"How long it takes to write a book depends on its length."
- Walter Jon Williams
"For every SF reader of that period, Robert A. Heinlein was also a touchstone."
- Walter Jon Williams
"Everything that you read is an influence on everything you write, and you want to draw as many elements into your work as you can."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Work, Influence, Want)
"Even if you only want to write science fiction, you should also read mysteries, poetry, mainstream literature, history, biography, philosophy, and science."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Science, History, Poetry, Biography, Fiction, Literature, Philosophy, Want)
"An SF author who reads only SF will have little new to contribute, but someone with a broader experience will bring more to the table."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Experience, Will)
"I wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember."
- Walter Jon Williams
"Being a writer was never a choice, it was an irresistible compulsion."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Being, Choice, Writer)
"Now I have to motivate myself much more than I had previously."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Now)
"Working within the limitations of the shared world generally made the writing easier, because I didn't have to invent any of the characters or background, which is usually the hardest part."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Limitations, World, Writing)
"When state and religion are one, religion becomes a means for the powerful to remain in power."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Power, Religion, State)
"Try to meet as many authors, agents, and editors as you can."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Editors)
"The Rift, which was well over a thousand pages of manuscript, took two years."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Years)
"The mass-market paperback, for one, is too expensive."
- Walter Jon Williams
"The Internet offers an interesting combination of advertising and community by participating in the community you can become an advertisement for yourself."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Advertising, Community, Internet)
"The big battle at the end of DW isn't drawn from history, but it's influenced by history, certainly."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: History, Battle, End)
"That's why editors and publishers will never be obsolete: a reader wants someone with taste and authority to point them in the direction of the good stuff, and to keep the awful stuff away from their door."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Authority, Direction, Editors, Taste, Will)
"I now have to find a reason to write, every single day."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Day, Now, Reason)
"Science fiction readers probably have the gene for novelty, and seem to enjoy a cascade of invention as much as a writer enjoys providing one."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Science, Fiction, Invention, Novelty, Writer)
"I want a platform that, like a book or a magazine, I can carry into the bath or leave at the beach."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Beach, Want)
"It's hard to generalize, because they're all different. When I started, I decided to take as much advantage as I could of the freedom offered by the SF field."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Freedom)
"It's a tough job to tell a story when the audience already knows the ending, and the ending is bleak."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Ending, Job)
"I've learned that I get blocked when my subconscious mind is telling me that I've taken the work in a wrong direction, and that once I start listening to what my subconscious is trying to tell me, I can work out the problem and get moving again."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Work, Direction, Listening, Mind, Trying, Wrong)
"I'm not afraid of werewolves or vampires or haunted hotels, I'm afraid of what real human beings to do other real human beings."
- Walter Jon Williams
"I'm in favor of any technology that makes my work available to the reading public at a reasonable price."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Technology, Work, Public, Reading)
"I went to college, though I didn't take many writing courses."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: College, Writing)
"I was pretty much grown-up by the time I attended school in Britain - or as grown-up as I'll ever get."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Time, Pretty, School)
"I've experienced writer's block, but never for more than a few days."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Writer)
"Some of my ideas were shot down by Lucasfilm because they stepped on territory that has been reserved for the movies. I didn't have a problem with that."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Movies, Ideas)
"If you can find collaborators whose strengths compliment your own, the result can be more than the sum of its authors."
- Walter Jon Williams
(Related: Compliment, Result)