Alice Hoffman Writing Quotations

What else is there to write about than love and loss?

I feel more influenced in my own work by dreams than I do by other writers' works in a way. Or by popular culture, movies - what else is there to write about than love and loss?

After a while, the characters I'm writing begin to feel real to me. That's when I know I'm heading in the right direction

I never see a novel as a film while I'm writing it. Mostly because novels and films are so different, and I'm such an internal novelist

I don't really read as much as I used to. A lot of what I was looking for as an escape I find in writing. And the other thing is that I don't want to get into someone else's language when I'm working

I'm much faster now. When you only have a certain amount of time to write, after a while you learn to use your time well or you stop writing

No one knows how to write a novel until it's been written

Every time I finish a book, I forget everything I learned writing it - the information just disappears out of my head

I wrote to find beauty and purpose, to know that love is possible and lasting and real.... Once I got to my desk, once I started writing, I still believed anything was possible.

When I write for teens, I feel I can cut through everything and get to the bare bones. I can get straight into the emotional world of the character.

When you start writing the magic comes when the characters seem to take on a life of their own and write the words for themselves.