I seriously doubt I would ever have written the first story had I not been a lawyer. I never dreamed of being a writer. I wrote only after witnessing a trial.
Interpretation
Life experiences can inspire creativity in unexpected ways.
In this quote, John Grisham reflects on how his background as a lawyer provided him with unique insights and experiences that ultimately led him to become a writer. He emphasizes that his initial foray into storytelling was not a lifelong aspiration but rather a product of his professional encounters, highlighting how our careers and experiences can shape our creative endeavors.
In practice
During a writing workshop, I shared how John Grisham's quote inspired me to draw from my professional background.
Nobody wants to read about the honest lawyer down the street who does real estate loans and wills. If you want to sell books, you have to write about the interesting lawyers - the guys who steal all the money and take off. That's the fun stuff.
Death row is a nightmare to serial killers and ax murderers. For an innocent man, it's a life of mental torture that the human spirit is not equipped to survive.
An outline is crucial. It saves so much time. When you write suspense, you have to know where you're going because you have to drop little hints along the way. With the outline, I always know where the story is going. So before I ever write, I prepare an outline of 40 or 50 pages.
Writing's still the most difficult job I've ever had - but it's worth it.
Ten years from now I plan to be sitting here, looking out over my land. I hope I'll be writing books, but if not, I'll be on my pond fishing with my kids. I feel like the luckiest guy I know.
I used to walk in a bookstore and see all these books on the walls. And I would say, 'Who wants to hear from me? What do I have to add to all of this?'
A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man pushing a button that releases a bomb.
A song ain't nothing but a conversation fixed up to where you can talk it over and over without getting tired of it.
Everyone is interesting. Everyone has something unexpected to offer and the job of acting is to pull it out of each other.
The reason we go to poetry is not for wisdom, but for the dismantling of wisdom
Almost every magazine piece I've ever written, I felt like I haven't done it justice, like it was just a gloss.
My opinion is that a poet should express the emotion of all the ages and the thought of his own.
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