David Morrell Quotes

• You have to follow your own voice. You have to be yourself when you write. In effect, you have to announce, 'This is me, this is what I stand for, this is what you get when you read me. I'm doing the best I can - buy me or not - but this is who I am as a writer.

  David Morrell

  Being Yourself, Writing, Who I Am

  45 Copy quote

• " ... What if?" Through the alchemy of those two words, something new comes into the world.

  David Morrell

  Two, What If, World

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• One generation's idea of fast pace might be different from a later generation's.

  David Morrell

  Ideas, Different, Generations

  Source: bookpage.com

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• A thriller becomes great when it carries a feeling of reality and truth.

  David Morrell

  Reality, Feelings, Thrillers

  Source: bookpage.com

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• As much as I like it when a book I'm writing speeds along, the downside can be that an author becomes too eager to finish and rushes the end. The end is even more important than the first page, and rushing can damage it.

  David Morrell

  Book, Writing, Rushing

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• As long as thriller authors teach us about our world, they'll be relevant.

  David Morrell

  Our World, Long, Thrillers

  Source: bookpage.com

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• Your obligation as writers is to distinguish yourself. … The ultimate result should be a book that you write that no one else could have written.

  David Morrell

  Book, Writing, Results

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• There are no inferior types of fiction, only inferior practitioners
  of them.

  David Morrell

  Fiction, Type, Inferiors

  David Morrell “The Successful Novelist”, David Morrell

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• At their best, thrillers not only entertain. Ideally they also reflect the society in which they are set, analyzing our fears and how we perceive the world.

  David Morrell

  World, Analyzing, Thrillers

  Source: bookpage.com

  4 Copy quote

• To all librarians everywhere, God bless you.

  David Morrell

  Librarian, God Bless You, God Bless

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• When I teach writing, I have a mantra: Be a first-rate version of yourself, and not a second-rate version of another writer.

  David Morrell

  Writing, Firsts, Teach

  "David Morrell & Ken Follett Talk About Writing". Interview with Jessica Strawser, www.writersdigest.com. October 8, 2010.

  6 Copy quote

• I have a graduate degree from Penn State. I studied at Penn State under a noted Hemingway scholar, Philip Young. I had an interest in thrillers, and it occurred to me that Hemingway wrote many action scenes: the war scenes in 'A Farewell to Arms' and 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' come to mind. But the scenes don't feel pulpy.

  David Morrell

  War, Farewell, Mind

  "Writer-to-Writer: A Conversation David Morrell, Master of the Modern Thriller". Interview with Mark Rubinstein, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 4, 2013.

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• A thriller must be thrilling. A mystery may or may not be a thriller depending on how much breathless emotion it has, as opposed to cerebral calculation.

  David Morrell

  May, Emotion, Mystery

  Source: bookpage.com

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• People who know various movie versions don't really know the story.

  David Morrell

  People, Stories, Knows

  Source: bookpage.com

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• Before I start a project, I always ask myself the following question. Why is this book worth a year of my life? There needs to be something about the theme, the technique, or the research that makes the time spent on it worthwhile.

  David Morrell

  Book, Years, Technique

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• His name was Rambo, and he was just some nothing kid for all anybody knew, standing by the pump of a gas station at the outskirts of Madison, Kentucky.

  David Morrell

  Military, Kids, Kentucky

  David Morrell (2011). “First Blood”, p.13, David Morrell

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