I loved to read and to write, but then something happened. As I made my way through school, I kept getting handed books to read that didn’t excite me and didn’t even remotely connect to the realities of my life. – R. A. Salvatore
Writing a book for me, I expect, is very similar to the experience of reading the book for my readers. – R. A. Salvatore
Things don’t really impress me. Memories impress me. It’s not the toys, it’s the people. – R. A. Salvatore
On a more practical level, anyone out there who wants to be a writer should clearly recognize that this is a brutal business, where even incredibly talented people sometimes never make a living. If you want to chase such a dream, please have a Plan B in place. – R. A. Salvatore
I do that mostly because I believe that the fantasy business is in terrible trouble right now, for several reasons, not the least of which being the almost Democrat vs. Republican mentality of readers on the Internet. – R. A. Salvatore
I don’t often know exactly what’s coming next, and that makes it more fun. And you know, for me, this entire genre is all about that; it’s all about having fun and getting away from the mundane world for just a little while. – R. A. Salvatore
Here’s the thing, for me at least: this is a huge genre now. It wasn’t always so. Not so many years ago, it wasn’t so. There is a tremendous diversity in fantasy today. – R. A. Salvatore
Definitely they write themselves. It’s an amazing experience. It’s like the characters have come alive and are sitting on my shoulder talking to me, telling me their tales. – R. A. Salvatore
Whenever you’re writing a book or creating a movie or a game, your first task is to get the reader/audience/player to suspend disbelief, to buy into the logic and boundaries of your world, even though those boundaries might include things like dragons and magic. To do that, you need long threads – of history and culture. – R. A. Salvatore
This little hobbit saves the world. The wizard kills the dragon and saves the town. So many people connect to that character; it doesn’t matter if it’s an elf or a hobbit or a dwarf. It doesn’t matter. They’re human in their heart and soul. – R. A. Salvatore
I don’t know how many bestsellers I’ve got, or half the awards I’ve won, and I don’t really care. I’m just having fun, doing something I love and getting paid for it. How cool is that? – R. A. Salvatore
I didn’t and don’t go to Internet for any business purposes. The book sales for me by this point are way beyond any influence I might have, positively, or others might have, negatively. – R. A. Salvatore
I won’t hold any illusions of changing the world or any such nonsense. But maybe, just maybe, I’m helping someone else change his or her life a little bit for the better, even if it just means giving someone a magical place in which to hide. – R. A. Salvatore
So, while I gave up the notions of publishing at that time, I never stopped editing and refining that book. A few years later, in 1987, I thought I had it ready to go out again. – R. A. Salvatore
I thought I would set the world on fire when I got out of college. I had done quite well in a field that was growing. Unfortunately, we got hit with a recession in 1981. – R. A. Salvatore
I’ve always been a fighter. If you tell me I can’t, I’ll die trying to prove you wrong. – R. A. Salvatore
Writers always have confidence issues – it comes with the territory. We never know where we fit in, or what the actual value of our work might be. So we hit lulls, or slogs. Throw in the idea that many creative people are somewhat manic-depressive, and it can get pretty dark at times. – R. A. Salvatore
It got so bad that by the time I was graduated, the only reading I did was in order to get the grade and the only writing I did was in order to get the grade. – R. A. Salvatore
I never intended to be a professional writer; as the story developed, the one thing I had in my hopes was that this would be something tangible to separate me from the nameless, numbered masses. – R. A. Salvatore
Also, there are authors and publicists using the Internet to manipulate opinion, both positively for a work and negatively against the competition. I don’t do this and can’t stomach it, honestly. – R. A. Salvatore
This is my spiritual journey through life, my way of making sense of the world. I don’t need permission from anyone or accolades from anyone; it is completely internal. – R. A. Salvatore
In the past, TSR and now Wizards of the Coast have asked me to do game stats for my characters, and I’m never comfortable doing that. It’s all relative after all. – R. A. Salvatore
