No one wants to read an apologetic book. Patrick Ness apologeticbookread Change image and share on social
Your reader is interested in a guileless, fresh, first-time-we-talked-about-it way. What a great liberation that is. And teenagers, if you respect them, will follow you a lot further than adults will, without fear of being a genre that they may not like or have been told not to like. They just want a story. Patrick Ness adultfearfollow share on social
Folk tales and myths, they've lasted for a reason. We tell them over and over because we keep finding truths in them, and we keep finding life in them. Patrick Ness findfolkhave Change image and share on social
If you set out to write an adjective novel, you're setting out to write a mediocre novel; your allegiance is to the adjective, not to the story, and then that just sucks all the joy right out of it. Patrick Ness adjectiveallegiancejoy Change image and share on social
A book cannot apologize for what people may think it should be. It has to be authoritative. That's what I want as a reader - I want to be confident that the book will do its job. Patrick Ness apologizeauthoritativebook Change image and share on social
It's fun being paid to read stuff and air your opinion about it - pretty much a dream job for a writer. Patrick Ness airdreamfun Change image and share on social
When I'm writing, I'm just in it and trying to figure out what seems best. Patrick Ness figurewrite Change image and share on social
If I sit down to write a young-adult novel, then I'm going to write either to the punch-pulling expectation of what I can't do, or I'm going to go the other way and think about what can I sneak in to be 'down with the kids' - which would be excruciating. Patrick Ness adultexcruciateexpectation share on social
I like writing for teenagers because they're not snobs. Patrick Ness snobteenagerwrite Change image and share on social
The books I like to read the most feel like they've been written by somebody who had to write them or go crazy. They had to get them out of their heads. I like that kind of urgency. Patrick Ness bookcrazyfeel Change image and share on social