Tom Clancy

Traditionally I try to limit the quotes from a writer to four, but it turns out that Tom Clancy had a lot to say about writing, some of it pretty good stuff. Read on:

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.

 The only way to do all the things you’d like to do is to read.

You learn to write the same way you learn to play golf. You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right. A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn’t divinely inspired—it’s hard work.

Two questions form the foundation of all novels: “What if?” and “What next?” (A third question, “What now?”, is one the author asks himself every 10 minutes or so; but it’s more a cry than a question.)

I’ve made up stuff that’s turned out to be real, that’s the spooky part.

Success is a finished book, a stack of pages each of which is filled with words. If you reach that point, you have won a victory over yourself no less impressive than sailing single-handed around the world.

What happened to me was pure dumb luck – I’m not the new Hemingway. Of course, fortune does favor the brave. In battle, you forgive a man anything except an unwillingness to take risks. Sometimes you have to put it on the line. What I did was take time away from how I earned my living. My wife gave me hell – ‘Why are you doing this?’ – but she doesn’t complain anymore. I wanted to see my name on the cover of a book. If your name is in the Library of Congress, you’re immortal.

Books and movies are different art forms with different rules. And because of that, they never translate exactly.