In Hollywood the woods are full of people that learned to write but evidently can't read. If they could read their stuff, they'd stop writing.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My theory is that sometimes writers write books because they want to read them, and they aren't there to be read. And I think that was true of me.
I have this theory that people in Hollywood don't read. They read 'Vanity Fair' and then consider themselves terribly well read. I think I can basically write about anybody without getting caught.
I always individuate myself from other writers who say they would die if they couldn't write. For me, I'd die if I couldn't read.
If they don't read, if they don't love reading; if they don't find themselves compulsively reading, I don't think they're really a writer.
In America, everyone writes but no one reads. Everyone's writing all day long - sending emails, tweets, text messages; they all think they're James Cameron's Avatar, performing in some video game for which they make up the script.
In Hollywood, they think they know it all. You, as a writer, are essentially an outsider. Novelists and short-story writers, especially.
Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either.
Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can't be taught.
You can't write if you don't read.
Why do writers write? Because it isn't there.
No opposing quotes found.