Stef Penney Quotes

If writers stuck to firsthand experience, novels would be pretty limited.

I despise this weakness in myself – this endless one-sided conversation that takes the place of action.

I suppose the short chapters and differing narrative points of view are quite “cinematic” devices, which came very naturally to me.

I definitely do feel a pull toward people and places that are far from my own life.

Just because we think of wolves (or the wilderness, or another race) as wild and fierce, doesn’t mean there isn’t another side to them.

Initially I only decided to try and write a novel because I wasn’t getting enough screenwriting work. It wasn’t a long-held ambition, and certainly the idea came first.

Gypsies are, to say the least, underrepresented in literature and film.

I don’t use real people for inspiration.

…it just goes to show you can’t leave anything behind. You bring it all with you, whether you want to or not.

I don’t think I could write about someone I didn’t feel some sympathy for.

Endings are never neat, because when life goes on, there is no end. You may want to speculate about what the characters get up to afterwards, but I feel it would be presumptuous of me to dictate that.