Tanith Lee

“Whatever the hell I am, I am Me.”

“Maidens who stay maidens turn into saints. Old women become sorceresses. Tough jobs, both of these.”

“I submitted manuscripts to publishers. This was not so much a feeling that I should be published as a wish to escape the feared and hated drudgery of normal work.”

“We all have our dreams. May we find them, and God have mercy on us when we do.”

“The other writer who had a very important early influence on me when I was about 17 was C.S. Lewis.”

“I like films, or some films, and would be intrigued to see my work on screen.”

“It's very selfish when I write. I'm not aware, ever, of writing for another person; I'm not even really aware of writing for myself.”

“I also love Disney, and will defend doing so, because there's so much in those films and I don't care if it's stereotyped.”

“I love writers all across the board, but one who influenced me very directly at the beginning was Mary Renault.”

“The soul is a magician. Only living flesh hampers it.”

“Writing is writing, and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and non-fiction. And even there, who can be sure?”

“It was the forest’s fault. Those two handsome woodcutters. An evil place, the forest, everyone knew it, full of temptations and imps...”