A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick -- a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.
Neil GaimanRead
As far as I'm concerned, the entire reason for becoming a writer is not having to get up in the morning.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the desire for the freedom that comes with being a writer, avoiding the traditional constraints of a daily job.
Neil Gaiman emphasizes the allure of a writer's lifestyle, particularly the flexibility it offers compared to conventional employment. The statement reflects a longing for autonomy and creativity, suggesting that writing allows for a more liberated existence, where one can escape the typical morning grind that many people face.
Themes
WritingFreedomCreativityAutonomyLifestyle
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational workshop about pursuing one’s passion, this quote can illustrate the liberating power of creativity.
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All quotes →Jesus. Low-Key Lyesmith," said Shadow. and then he heard what he was saying and he understood. "Loki," he said. "Loki Lie-smith." "You're slow," said Loki, "but you get there in the end." And his lips twisted into a scarred smile and the embers danced in the shadows of his eyes.
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As a teenager I wrote to R.A. Lafferty. And he responded, too, with letters that were like R.A. Lafferty short stories, filled with elliptical answers to straight questions and simple answers to complicated ones.
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The important thing to understand about American history, wrote Mr. Ibis, in his leather-bound journal, is that it is fictional, a charcoal-sketched simplicity for the children, or the easily bored.
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Nothing’s changed. You’ll go home. You’ll be bored. You’ll be ignored. No one will listen to you, really listen to you. You’re too clever and too quiet for them to understand. They don’t even get your name right.
Neil GaimanRead
I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don't last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend.
Neil GaimanRead
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I needed my life as a springboard for my fiction. I have to have something solid under my feet when I write. I'm not a fantasist. I bounce up and down on the diving board, and I go into the water of fiction. But I've got to begin in life so I can pump life into it throughout.
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Indie world won't have me, and mainstream world treats me like an alien, but here I am still floating between these two worlds.
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Everything was a song. Every conversation, every personal hurt, every observance of people in stress, happiness and love... if you could feel it, I could feel it. And I could write a song about it.
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