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" My first true lesson in writing came from Mr. Bowden when I was 16. At my high school, he was the teacher known to be the very best at literature and writing. "

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" Every writer must find a way of writing that tells the reader: This is me and no one else. The Voice can be idiosyncratic, but it cannot be obscure. It is a blend of style and content and intent and rhythm and pure personality. "

Jeff Lindsay

Writing

Voice

" When I was a playwright earlier in my career - my senior project in high school was my first produced play - I used to put on the title page: 'A tragedy with laughs.' "

" If you look at Victorian England, being a soldier was considered a noble profession. "

" I try to write as serious as possible, and then a joke slips in. "

" Pretending is the basis of civilised society, and it is sometimes necessary for all of us. Without it we are nothing more than a pack of snarling dogs. "

" Later, in the afternoon, I read what I did that morning. It's almost always a surprise. But I can read it rationally; edit, polish, re-write, and think what I might do tomorrow in the early darkness. "

" I had been writing poems and stories since I learned to make letters. I had placed poems in a hardcover anthology at the age of 6. And I knew more big words than anyone else in the 10th grade. "

Jeff Lindsay

Age

Big

" A single moment spent in a business meeting or at a pub is more than enough to reveal the basic human truth that we are all faking it most of the time. "

" Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words. "

" I need quiet and solitude to work. Darkness is best. If I am wide awake, I can't write. "

Jeff Lindsay

I Am

Solitude

" It was a tremendous stroke of good luck that the show got Michael C. Hall to play the part. Everyone I've talked to thinks Michael is a perfect 'Dexter,' which never happens. "

" In the afternoon, it's impossible to put down any new words. I don't even try. "

" I don't agree with capital punishment as it is now, because too often mistakes are made. But I think that if you eliminate the mistakes, then there are times when it is justified. "

" I know a lot of law officers, and every single one of them faces a moment - usually after about three hours on the job - when they realise that there's no connection between law and justice. The law, as an institution, avoids justice, subverts it, just as often as it sees it done. "

" We're predators; we don't eat meat because it's handy, we eat meat because we have a taste for blood. "

" What my research told me is that a psychopath cannot change. You're born like that. "

Jeff Lindsay

Research

You

" I question every word; I write 'the' and immediately feel scorn. It's such an ordinary word - everybody uses it - why can't I come up with something original? In the sunlight, every single word seems hackneyed. "

" Everybody believes that capital punishment is wrong, but when they look at certain cases, they're quick to say, 'Put them to death,' or scream 'capital punishment.' "

" Sociopaths don't have feelings; they can't. "

Jeff Lindsay

Feelings

" Life would certainly be easier if we all came equipped with our own personal FAQ lists. When we meet someone, we could pass them a business card with the list on the back, and then step back and let them read before we tried to talk. "

" Someone who is not a killer is not going to watch a TV show and decide to be a killer. "

" If you look at the primitive societies that we know about, the worst thing that could have happened to you was to be captured and be turned over to the women. "

" I wish to God I was organized enough to tell you that, 'Yes, there will be 14 books, and this one will go here, and that one will go there'... but to be honest, I hardly know what I'm going to do when I get up in the morning. "