The moment a man sets his thoughts down on paper, however secretly, he is in a sense writing for publication.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Even if there is endless documentation, it would be impossible to know what a man thought inside his own mind... This is where the novelist's creative imagination has to take over.
A writer never reads his work. For him, it is the unreadable, a secret, and he cannot remain face to face with it. A secret, because he is separated from it.
There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write.
A writer's work is to witness things.
A writer should bury his thoughts deep and convey them through the characters in his novel.
A lot of writing is thinking.
The great man who gives a true transcript of his mind fascinates and instructs. Most writers suppress individuality. They wish to please the public.
For me, a writer should be more like a lighthouse keeper, just out there by himself. He shouldn't get his ideas from other people all around him.
Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.
Writing is a way of drifting within my own mind: almost a solitary process, so to speak.