Walter Jon Williams Quotes

Genre labels are useful only insofar as they help you find an audience... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

How long it takes to write a book depends on its length... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

For every SF reader of that period, Robert A. Heinlein was also a touchstone... view

By: 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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

Even if you only want to write science fiction, you should also read mysteries, poetry, mainstream literature, history, biography, philosophy, and science... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

I wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

Being a writer was never a choice, it was an irresistible compulsion... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

Now I have to motivate myself much more than I had previously... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

When state and religion are one, religion becomes a means for the powerful to remain in power... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

Try to meet as many authors, agents, and editors as you can... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

The Rift, which was well over a thousand pages of manuscript, took two years... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

The mass-market paperback, for one, is too expensive... view

By: 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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

The big battle at the end of DW isn't drawn from history, but it's influenced by history, certainly... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

I now have to find a reason to write, every single day... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

I want a platform that, like a book or a magazine, I can carry into the bath or leave at the beach... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

It's a tough job to tell a story when the audience already knows the ending, and the ending is bleak... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

I'm in favor of any technology that makes my work available to the reading public at a reasonable price... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

I went to college, though I didn't take many writing courses... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

I was pretty much grown-up by the time I attended school in Britain - or as grown-up as I'll ever get... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

I've experienced writer's block, but never for more than a few days... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

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... view

By: Walter Jon Williams

If you can find collaborators whose strengths compliment your own, the result can be more than the sum of its authors... view

By: Walter Jon Williams