Sue Grafton Quotes
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I read the paper every day. There are certain subjects that will catch my attention. I have an entire file of articles. Of course I make up the story, especially since most criminals are not very smart and fictional crime must be clever. I have to make sure the story I am telling is interesting and realistic. In this book I went on line and found out the manners of codes. I thought it interesting to use them as a jumping off point.
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You can’t save others from themselves because those who make a perpetual muddle of their lives don’t appreciate your interfering with the drama they’ve created. They want your poor-sweet-baby sympathy, but they don’t want to change.
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Pay enough for anything and it passes for taste.
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For the record, I'd like to say that I'm a big fan of forgiveness as long as I have a chance to get even first" Kinsey Millhone, V is for Vengeance
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My notion of an elegant table is you don't leave the knife sticking out of the mayonnaise jar.
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I know there are people who believe you should forgive and forget. For the record, I'd like to say I'm a big fan of forgiveness as long as I'm given the opportunity to get even first.
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My father taught me to love detective fiction writers such as Raymond Chandler. When I decided to have a hard-boiled detective series I did a lot of studying before I wrote the first book. I learned police procedure, the California criminal law, and many areas outside my expertise.
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Perhaps when we're forced to forfeit what we own, we lose any sentimental associations. Perhaps pawning our valuables frees us in the same way a house fire destroys not only our worldly goods, but our attachment to what's gone.
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You write one book and you're ready for fame and fortune. I don't know that people are spending the time and attention on learning how to write-which takes years. Everybody sees the success stories.
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Pretending to be 'normal' is a lot harder than you think.
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Lying contains the same hostile elements as a practical joke in that the 'victim' ends up looking foolish in his own eyes and laughable in everyone else's.
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It's disconcerting to realize how little you have to say to someone who once occupied such a prominent place in your bed.
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Of the first seven novels I wrote, numbers four and five were published. Numbers one, two, three, six, and seven, have never seen the light of day... and rightly so.
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I write because it's all I know how to do. Writing is my anchor and my purpose. My life is informed by writing, whether the work is going well or I'm stuck in the hell of writer's block, which I'm happy to report only occurs about once a day.
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In my opinion, there's no condition in life that can't be ameliorated by a dose of junk food.
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Too much virtue has a corrupting effect.
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You kill people you hate or you kill in rage or you kill to get even, but you don't kill someone you're indifferent to.
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any mystery writer is both magician and moralist ... two species of artist in short supply.
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Who knows what part we play in other people's dreams?
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Grief is as contagious as a yawn.
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I caution writers all the time to slow down and pay more attention to the work in front of them than to the end result. I don't think you write one book and get anywhere. I think you write five books and then maybe you are finally on the right path.
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If high heels were so wonderful, men would still be wearing them.
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There are laws for everything except the harm families do.
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Ghosts don't haunt us. That's not how it works. They're present among us because we won't let go of them.