Laurell K. Hamilton

People are supposed to fear the unknown but ignorance is bliss when knowledge is so damn frightening.

Stupidity isn't punishable by death. If it was, there would be a hell of a population drop.

If I'd been easily discouraged, I could have been a one-hit wonder.

Confidence is a fine trait. Over-confidence isn't.

No name-calling truly bites deep unless, in some dark part of us, we believe it. If we are confident enough then it is just noise.

Nothing is more appealing than a handsome man who is also uncertain of himself.

The fey in this country keep to themselves, and are a separate nation, much like the American Indians, but with even more autonomy.

My writing style is very sensual, as in sensory detail.

I wasn't like most girls.

Paranoia is just another word for longevity.

You give the reader a sense of a full meal.

The only true happiness lies in knowing who you are ... and making peace with it.

I've lost track of the number of people who want to be writers but never actually write anything. Talking about writing, dreaming about writing, can be very fun, but it won't get a book written. You've got to write.

Never argue with your characters; they know themselves better than you do.

My characters surprise me constantly. My characters are like my friends - I can give them advice, but they don't have to take it. If your characters are real, then they surprise you, just like real people.

Hatred is a cold fire and it gives no warmth.

Never throw stones if you think they're going to come back and hit you.

You'd think a sociopath assassin wouldn't have a fan following but he does.

You either mellow at 30, or your head explodes - take your choice.

Now that I'm being very successful, publishers are trying to mainstream me, but I'm unabashedly genre. It's what I like to read, what I like to write.

Some people just don't seem to understand the concept of fiction. It is fiction; it ain't true, folks.

One of my rules is never explain. A writer is a lot like a magician, if you explain how the trick works then a lot of the magic turns mundane.

I try not to worry about rewriting books that worked well the first time. I'm too busy writing new books to worry about things that are already in print.

Hesitation will get you killed.

I like conventions. I like meeting and greeting. I'm perched on that edge where I'm getting more attention than I quite know what to do with, though.

I love animals, always have, and it seemed natural to help the ASPCA. Animals have no voice of their own, so we have to be that voice.

When sex is necessary for the plot of a book, or a character development, then I don't shy away from it. Why should I?

Vampires can live a very long time, theoretically forever, which means their idea of getting down to business can be damn leisurely.

I'm not terribly fond of soapboxes.

I want a kiss to be so believable it gives the reader shivers.

If people would write exactly what I wanted to read I wouldn't feel so compelled to write myself.

Never trust people who smile constantly. Theyre either selling something or not very bright.

she was just that shiver that makes you walk faster at night. You don't know why you do it, but some part of you remembers that the dark is never really empty. ~Anita

I always treated writing as a profession, never as a hobby. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will.

It was just you had to be strong, and if you weren't strong you're a victim and you're not going to make it. That was the reality when I was growing up.

What we prefer to read is sort of like sexual preference, you like what you like. Most of the time you have no clue why.

I want a kiss to be so believable it give the reader shivers.

Every relationship is messed up. What makes it really perfect is if you still want to be there when things suck.

Sometimes you can learn things from the way a person denies something. The choice of lies can be almost as helpful as the truth.

Hatred makes us all ugly.

Never trust people who smile constantly. They're either selling something or not very bright.

I am not a morning person.

If you fear nothing then you are not brave. You are merely too foolish to be afraid.

Never argue when you're winning.

One of my rules is never explain. A writer is a lot like a magician, if you explain how the trick works then a lot of the magic turns mundane

I started off like everyone else does, slogging but having a compulsion to put words on paper. I didn't write or read horror or fantasy, other than children's fantasy, until I was in my teens.

What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in New Orleans, goes home with you.

I'm more influenced by my own interests than anyone else's. Writers have to entertain themselves, or they can't entertain anyone else.

Better to assume the worst and be wrong than assume the best and be wrong. Pessimism will keep you alive, optimism won't.

Perfection is an unattainable goal. It isn't going to be perfect. Just get words down on paper, and when you stumble to what you think is the end of the book, you will have hundreds of pages of words that came out of your head. It may not be perfect, but it looks like a book.

I feel that if you are blessed, or lucky enough, to be doing well, you should help others.

A human being does not turn another human being over to the monsters. Not for any reason.

I think that my vampires in general were influenced by my being allowed to watch the Hammer vampire films. Vampire Circus, also shown as Circus of Fear, was one of those movies.

Here's the secret to finishing that first book. Don't rewrite as you go.

If you're open to it, New Orleans will teach you about yourself, but if you want to hide from who you really are, the city will help you do that, too.

Most of the monsters... are based on some sort of mythology. Every culture and even some geographical areas have monsters and mythology that is their own.

Everyone spends their lives trying to balance their world between good and evil.

Readers respond to every genre intensely, if it's a genre that appeals to them. Again, who can say why anyone enjoys horror and dark fantasy? If I can't answer the question for myself, I wouldn't dream of trying to answer it for others.

Lust has less logic than love, sometimes, but it's easier to fight.

Friends dont count the cost of favors.

The second you stop questioning yourself is the second that you become the monster.

By 17, I was submitting to publications and collecting my first rejection slips.

Self-doubt is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I think like a detective.

I cannot say how strongly I object to people using other people's writing as research. Research is non-fiction, especially for horror, fantasy, science fiction. Do not take your research from other people's fiction. Just don't.

I am a very linear thinker, so I write beginning to end. I write hundreds of pages per book that never make it into print.

Mercy will get you killed, but sometimes it's all that makes us human.

There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.

Two things I do well in books are sex and violence, but I don't want gratuitous sex or violence. The sex and violence are only as graphic as need be. And never included unless it furthers the plot or character development.

Like most creative people I don't fit well into boxes.