The story of Jesus makes no sense to me. God sent his only son. Why could God only have one son and why would he have to die? It’s just bad writing, really. And it’s really terrible in about the second act. – Trey Parker
Interviewing Rei Kawakubo in Tokyo and John Galliano in Paris, both for ‘Pop’ magazine, were huge for me, not just in learning about fashion and writing but about how little desire I had to be a critic/reporter/journalist/commentator so much as a kind of travel diarist. – Tavi Gevinson
Singing didn’t really come naturally to me, I don’t think. I had to really work at it. I just kept singing. I never was really worried about it, though, because I was writing songs, and that was the most important thing to me. – Tom Odell
Writing ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’ was one of the most hilarious experiences I have ever had in the studio because it just happened so naturally. – Taylor Swift
I want my stories to be understood and enjoyed by anyone, so I need ‘beta-readers’ who will tell me when the plot is working or not working, and when my writing is concise or vague. – Tony DiTerlizzi
The desk thing is a problem for me. The ideal one would be vast and perfectly clear. Yet the bane of the biographical existence is paper; if you’re ‘an artist under oath’ you’re writing from a mountain of documentation. – Stacy Schiff
My father said writing was a nice hobby. He strongly encouraged my brother and me to become doctors. – Tess Gerritsen
I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not. – V. S. Naipaul
My three years at the NIH were critical in my scientific education. I learned an immense amount about the research process: developing assays, purifying macromolecules, documenting a discovery by many approaches, and writing clear manuscripts describing what is known and what remains to be investigated. – Stanley B. Prusiner
I’ve never really worked out this thought, and I don’t know if I’m really conscious of it, but I can see there’s an attraction about writing about a period that’s over and isn’t going to change colour while you look at it. – Tom Stoppard
It was a lot of fun, and writing a series is comfortable. It’s almost like having a secure job. – Thomas Perry
Alongside my ‘no email’ policy, I resolve to make better use of the wonderful Royal Mail, and send letters and postcards to people. There is a huge pleasure in writing a letter, putting it in an envelope and sticking the stamp on it. And huge pleasure in receiving real letters, too. – Tom Hodgkinson
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried writing a Doctor Who story, but it’s a lot more difficult than it initially appears, especially if you’ve got more than one assistant. – Sarah Sutton
I always appreciate people’s opinions, but sometimes I have to take a step back and remember why I’m writing and what I want to do with it. Shutting out the voices is difficult but it’s been good for me. – Veronica Roth
When I’m on a break from writing, I’ll log on to Amazon and eBay. The doorbell is constantly being rung by deliverymen. – Sophie Kinsella
The first time I tried to write was when I was 14, after I got an electric guitar. I put a song together, and it wasn’t that bad! The writing came natural to me. – Tom Petty
I started writing serious books so late because I knew I’d be accused of riding on my father’s coattails. – Thomas Steinbeck
I think many people need, even require, a narrative version of their life. I seem to be one of them. Writing memoir is, in some ways, a work of wholeness. – Sue Monk Kidd
I’m pretty terrible at writing, so the way I kind of therapeutically get through things is by drawing. – Zoey Deutch
I think there are people out there writing original bluegrass songs, but it’s hard to get them out on the air. – Steve Martin
I like writing a lot more than I used to. I used to find it scary but now I’ve got used to it once it gets going. I used to find it hard to start. Fear of the blank page. The first thing you write down won’t bear any relation to what’s in your head and that’s always disappointing. – Victoria Wood
As you get older you’re told to be sensible, but it’s important for writing if you’re a comic that you’re able to still access that childlike thing. – Tim Vine
I was inspired to spend an entire year – my 65th year – reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu’s messages, practicing them and ultimately writing down these insights as I felt Lao-tzu wanted us to know them. – Wayne Dyer
My first instrument was my voice. I was always singing and writing melodies when I was a little kid. I just sort of taught myself whatever was around. If there were instruments around, I’d play them. I always liked the idea of not being shown but coming up with my own energetic connection to the instrument. – Xavier Rudd
Well, yes, as I was a rather bad actor then and I wasn’t making enough money, I thought, to make enough money to not make money as an actor, I’d better do some writing. – Val Guest