People Quotes by Donald E. Westlake

Donald E. Westlake

I’m one of the narrative-push people. I don’t outline, I don’t plan ahead. So I’m my first reader, telling myself the story as I’m going along. Since I haven’t designed it ahead of time, each day I have to be sure that the footing is solid before I make the next step. I think you could be more intricate if you work it out ahead of time.

People

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Donald E. Westlake

I’ve had stuff of mine adapted by other people, so I’ve come to the conclusion that a movie is a different form from a novel and there is no such thing as a true adaptation. You have to adapt to this other thing and do it right. But that voice of the original should somehow still be there, and the original intent should still be there. So if the original writer saw the movie, the writer would say, “Well, that’s not what I wrote, but that’s what I meant.” And if you can do that, I think you’ve done your job as a screenwriter.

Different

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Donald E. Westlake

If Chester had a failing, it was that he believed people were what they thought they were.

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Ifs

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Donald E. Westlake

In the first batch of readers, back in the ’60s and ’70s, the criminal class was still literate, so I would get letters from people in prison; they thought that I was somebody whom they could shop-talk with, and they would tell me very funny stories. I got a lot of those. Guys who were going to wind up doing 10 to 15 for bank robbery, yes, were reading my books.

Book

People

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Donald E. Westlake

Science fiction is a weird category, because it’s the only area of fiction I can think of where the story is not of primary importance. Science fiction tends to be more about the science, or the invention of the fantasy world, or the political allegory. When I left science fiction, I said “They’re more interested in planets, and I’m interested in people.”

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Political

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Donald E. Westlake

The British were doing crime stories first, but the British thing is a very different thing. There, the stories are about restoring a break in the fabric of society. The American thing has never been worrying about breaks in the fabric of society, but about people doing their job, whether it’s police procedurals or criminals or whatever.

People

Police

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Donald E. Westlake

The many magazines, ranging from pulp to slick, that used to serve as both farm teams for writers and lures to readers, with hundreds of short stories every month, don’t exist. Most of the doors for new people have been sealed.

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People

Team

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