Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness
Patrick Nessis an American author, journalist and lecturer who moved to London at age of 28 and now holds dual citizenship. He is best known for his books for young adults, including the Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionYoung Adult Author
Date of Birth17 October 1971
CountryUnited States of America
Patrick Ness quotes about
somebody written
The books I like to read the most feel like they've been written by somebody who had to write them or go crazy. They had to get them out of their heads. I like that kind of urgency.
rewrite
I write 1,000-1,500 words. The next day, I rewrite it and add 1,000-1,500 words to the end of it.
films mobile puts
If you're 15 and you tell someone a secret, they can put it up on Facebook. If you make a mistake, someone films it on their mobile and puts it up on YouTube. When you're 15, you deserve privacy.
adjective allegiance mediocre setting
If you set out to write an adjective novel, you're setting out to write a mediocre novel; your allegiance is to the adjective, not to the story, and then that just sucks all the joy right out of it.
okay
Why can't we learn to live with how we are? And whatever anybody chooses is okay by the rest of us?
looks arms convinced
Francia don’t look too convinced. I never seen arms so crossed.
badly great perform sing theory writer
If you sing beautifully about nothing, no one will listen. If you sing badly about great stuff, no one will listen. Ideas are everywhere, but my theory is that a writer doesn't just think of an idea: they perform them.
boy complex drape framework great love plot stuff tend ya
Plot is a framework on which to drape other things. So once that's working, I can just let it go and do all the stuff that I love - 'Trojan horse' it. There are so many great YA heroines, and that's fantastic, but what about the emotionally complex boy out there? That's who I tend to write about.
books boy bunch comedies experience funny guys tired woman
I get tired of comedies where there are a bunch of funny guys and a beautiful woman who doesn't do anything funny. And I don't like books where there's a rough-and-tumble boy and a really clever, snotty girl. That's just not my experience with teenagers.
best books characters definitely difficult fall love
The best characters in books are always the difficult ones, and why would you want to fall in love with someone difficult? The ones I'd fall in love with are the ones I'd definitely keep out of a book.
magical novel purely slightly somehow
The magical and fantastical isn't something I'm uncomfortable with in books, and I chafe slightly at the idea that a purely realist novel somehow has more value.
available few meet readers shock time
I meet blind and partially-sighted young readers all the time, and it's a shock that so few books are available to them.
badly fiction narrative popular
I think the reason teenage fiction is so popular with adults is that adults hunger for narrative just as badly as teenagers do.
air job paid stuff
It's fun being paid to read stuff and air your opinion about it - pretty much a dream job for a writer.