27 Michelle Paver Quotes for You to Enjoy

Michelle Paver

British Novelist

Born: Sep 7, 1960

About Book Me People Writing You

Related authors: Anne Bronte Charles Morgan Charlotte Bronte Hector Hugh Munro Helen Oyeyemi Jeanette Winterson Roald Dahl Zadie Smith

Why do so many children love the idea of being snowed in or shipwrecked, of having to survive on one's own? When I was a child, I was no exception. I wanted to hunt with a bow and arrow like the Stone Age people: to skin deer and build my own shelter. And I desperately wanted a wolf. As we lived in London, my options were limited. Michelle Paver

Love Age People Build Wolf Own Skin Desperately Hunt No Exception London My Own Having Exception Idea Like Bow Limited Shelter Were Arrow Survive Child Options Stone Stone Age Being Children Wanted To Survive Many Lived Why Deer

When a wolf doesn't want to do something, they look really cute. Michelle Paver

Wolf Cute Something Look Want Really

Writing is a mysterious process, and many ideas come from deep within the imagination, so it's very hard to say how characters come about. Mostly, they just happen. Michelle Paver

Writing Imagination Say Characters About Mysterious Come Ideas Mostly Within How Very Just Happen Process Hard Deep Many

A lot of my writing is wish-fulfilment, making things the way I want them to be. Michelle Paver

Writing Way Making Lot Want Them Things

I'm not the next J. K. Rowling. We've got one already. It's flattering to be compared to her. I like her books and loved the first three particularly, but apart from the fact that they've got young boys as heroes, they're very different. Michelle Paver

Heroes Three First Young Books Fact Like Particularly Boy Got Very Different Loved Apart Flattering Next Compared Her Rowling

Changing from biochemistry to law was easy because I was rubbish in the laboratory. I could never decide how much to put in a test tube because I'm not very good at maths. Michelle Paver

Good Law Rubbish Changing Easy Could Never Put Because How How Much Test Maths Very Laboratory Tube Decide Much Biochemistry

I wanted to write a very simple story about a boy, a wolf, a girl, a bear and a forest, so I thought I might set it in the past. I didn't realise that it went back to when I was 10: I used to love the Stone Age when I was a kid and wanted to live in it, and I got rid of my bed and slept on the floor, but I didn't remember it. Michelle Paver

Love Age Simple Remember Thought Girl Wolf Past Live Slept Back Kid About Bear Write Boy Got Bed Forest Very Stone Stone Age Wanted In The Past Realise Story To Love Might Used Rid Floor Set

I could be less impatient with people. I sometimes judge by impressions. Michelle Paver

People Judge Sometimes Impatient Could Impressions Less

For a novelist, the great thing about the Stone Age people is that we know virtually nothing about their beliefs - which means that I get to make it up! But it's still got to be plausible. Michelle Paver

I'd been interested in animal behaviour as a teenager and had thought of studying it at one point. Michelle Paver

Animal Thought Teenager Point Had Studying Been Behaviour Interested

When my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1991, I asked him if he had any regrets, and he said no. I was a burnt-out litigation solicitor in my thirties, hating my life, and his cancer made me re-evaluate it all. Michelle Paver

I loved the myths of ancient Greece and Egypt. Michelle Paver

Ancient Myths Greece Egypt Loved

Mostly, research is much more fun than the actual writing. Michelle Paver

Writing Research More Mostly Than Much Fun Actual

Doing field trips rather than simply researching online allows me to experience the story from the point of view of my main character; you can't get that by sitting at a desk. Michelle Paver

I didn't wake up one day and think, 'I'm not going to have children.' My mother was a housewife and brought up three children, so I just thought it would happen. Michelle Paver

Day Mother Wake Up Thought Three Think One Day Would Brought Housewife Wake Up Going Just Children Happen

I saw myself as a trailblazer in the 1980s as a female lawyer in the City. It was exciting, as women were outnumbered by men five to one. But while I had this sense of trailblazing, in reality, I wasn't pushing boundaries; it was just a personal myth I'd created, as I was doing a job I wasn't enjoying. Michelle Paver

Myself Women Reality Job Men Lawyer Myth Sense Saw City Outnumbered Had Pushing Exciting Boundaries Female Doing Were Five Personal Just While Created Enjoying

To experience the northern forest in the raw, I went to northern Finland and Lapland, travelling on horseback, and sleeping on reindeer skins in the traditional open-fronted Finnish laavu. I ate elk heart, reindeer and lingonberries, and tried out spruce resin: the chewing gum of the Stone Age. Michelle Paver

The most remote place I've been to was in Greenland. I remember setting out for a solo hike from a small cabin, itself several hours' boat ride from the nearest settlement. Michelle Paver

Ride Remember Setting Settlement Several Out Solo Small Cabin Hike Remote Hours Most Been Itself Greenland Place Boat Nearest

There's this whole thing of being two people. You are the person you want to be - the writer - and then there's this weird other life of going on tour and talking about the writing. And that really is weird. Michelle Paver

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