David Mamet is an American playwright, screenwriter and author. His play Glengarry Glen Ross won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. His most well-known works include American Buffalo and Wag the Dog.
David Mamet on Writing
“You've got to stand being bad if you wanna be a writer, because if you don't, you're never going to write anything good.”
“Writing a novel is an incredibly free experience. One puts one's self in a narrative mode. You can go off in any direction - the past, the future, or go laterally, or include one's own beliefs. It's total freedom.”
“I used to think I'd like to be a fireman — in fact, I still would - and the only drawback I could see was coming back to the firehouse, after a day of fighting fires, and still having to put in an eight-hour day writing.”
“If you're writing an opinion piece, it's your job to write your opinion. If, on the other hand, you wrote a novel, as Virginia Woolf tells us, it would be inappropriate if you let your novel be influenced by your political opinions.”
“'I wish' is a proclamation of something you're not go-ing to do. So rather than 'I wish,' if there's something you want, say, 'I will' or 'I intend to' or 'I'm going to' and do it. What's the worst thing that's gonna happen to you? You're going to fail? So what?”
“Writing a plot is one of the hardest things I ever learned how to do. It's just hard, because it's like playing with some unclean substance. And it is, because the unclean substance is your own consciousness.”
“Look at the scene and ask yourself "Is it dramatic? Is it essential? Does it advance the plot?" Answer truthfully. If the answer is "no" write it again or throw it out.”
