Are you looking for Mary Higgins Clark quotes with citations on Internet ?
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I know, it is difficult to find bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark quotations with citations, except for a few published books.
All the citations of Mary Higgins Clark quotes publish here are linked directly to the very sources.
In short, all Mary Higgins Clark quotes here are definitely authentic and you can see the very quotes for yourself.
By the way, the quote “When someone is mean to me, I just make them a victim in my next book”, which is attributed to Higgins Clark, CANNOT be found anywhere.
It is because that quote is a paraphrase, from one of Higgins Clark’s interviews with The Internet Writing Journal.
The actual quote should be:
“Well, there was one review two years ago which really knocked a book of mine.(laughing) So I found out what the reviewer looked like, and I intend to make him the villain in my next novel! Or, perhaps he’ll show up as a victim with a bullet in his head. That’s one of the joys of being a writer. You can take out all your frustrations in fiction, and remain a perfectly lovely person in real life.”
On January 31, 2010, the prolific American author Mary Higgins Clark aka “Queen of Suspense” passed away at the age of 92.
This mystery novelist wrote thirty-eight suspense novels, four collections of short stories, a historical novel, a memoir, and two children’s books.
Her international best-sellers include “The Cradle Will Fall“, “The Cinderella Murder“, “All Dressed in White“, and “The Sleeping Beauty Killer“.
Her last novel “Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry” deals with a mix of murder and the #MeToo movement.
Two of her novels “Where Are the Children?” and “A Stranger Is Watching” were made into feature films, while others were turned into television movies.
Among the many honors and awards that Clark received were: the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (1980), membership (1997) in the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, and induction (2000) as a Grand Master of the Edgar Allen Poe Awards by the Mystery Writers of America.
Mary Higgins Quotes With Citations
Without holding your suspense any longer, let’s check out some of my favorite Mary Higgins Clark quotes about writing:
“There are so many wonderful writers who can’t make a living off their craft.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(A Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Caleb Gotthardt, BookBub, December 19, 2019) source
“I did believe in my heart of hearts that I would one day be a successful writer.” – Mary Higgin Clark
(A Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Caleb Gotthardt, BookBub, December 19, 2019) source
“My inspiration for a story always begins with the plot.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(A Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Caleb Gotthardt, BookBub, December 19, 2019) source
“My books always have a strong, self-reliant woman character in the lead role.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(A Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Caleb Gotthardt, BookBub, December 19, 2019) source
“There are people who would like to write, there are people who have a genuine talent for writing, and there are the rest of us — those of us who become known, who truly need to write. And it is a need, like eating or brushing your teeth.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Interview With Mary Higgins Clark, Author of New Novel ‘I’ll Walk Alone’ By Maureen Mackey, AARP Bulletin, April 7, 2011) source
“I love a good party. I’m the one who would climb out of my casket to go to my wake! And when I die, put a nice big spiral notebook, a couple of pens, and a glass of wine in the casket, and I’ll be perfectly content.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Interview With Mary Higgins Clark, Author of New Novel ‘I’ll Walk Alone’ By Maureen Mackey, AARP Bulletin, April 7, 2011) source
“You will find the time to write if you’re compelled to write.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Interview With Mary Higgins Clark, Author of New Novel ‘I’ll Walk Alone’ By Maureen Mackey, AARP Bulletin, April 7, 2011) source
“The plot is what you will do for the rest of your life, and you are the protagonist.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Commencements: Writer Says Life Has Its Own Plot, The New York Times, May 18, 1997, Sect. 1, P. 31) source
(The quote is also found in: Revisiting Mary Higgins Clark: A Critical Companion By Linda De Roche, Greenwood Press, 2003, Ch. 1. The Plot Of Her Story, P. 1) source
Note: An address to the graduates at Fordham University’s 152nd commencement, Rose Hill campus, Bronx, May 17, 1997.
“I cut a lot of stories out of The New York Times.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Claire E. White, The Internet Writing Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5) source
“…don’t say you’re too busy, because you’ll always be too busy!” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Claire E. White, The Internet Writing Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5) source
“I have always maintained that the sexiest line of the century was: “You’ll not shut me out of your bedroom tonight, my dear.”” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Claire E. White, The Internet Writing Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5) source
“I do think that authors who are commercially successful really don’t get fair treatment from reviewers much of the time.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Claire E. White, The Internet Writing Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5) source
“…a writer writes to be read.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Claire E. White, The Internet Writing Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5) source
“A writer does not write for her desk drawer — she writes for people to read what she has written.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Claire E. White, The Internet Writing Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5) source
“There is a lot of psychology in philosophy, which I found fascinating. And it has been very helpful in my writing.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Claire E. White, The Internet Writing Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5) source
“I believe that the real critics that count are the readers.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark By Claire E. White, The Internet Writing Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5) source
“Well, the fact of life is that anybody who is commercially successful is going to get lambasted by some critic. It’s just the way it is.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Interview With Mary Higgins Clark By Andrew F. Gulli, The Strand Magazine, Issue XV 2005) source
“One of the best clues about what to write is what one likes to read, and I had always loved reading suspense.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Ghost Ship Interview, A Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark About Her First Children’s Book, Ghost Ship, maryhigginsclark.com, April 3, 2007) source
“If you want to be happy for a year, win the lottery. If you want to be happy for life, love what you do.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(On The Street Where You Live By Mary Higgins Clark, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011, Thursday March, 22, Twelve, P. 63) source
Note: This is her mother’s advice to Mary Higgins and her brothers, while she was growing up.
(The quote is almost same is also: Library Journal , March 15, 1990) source
“The flame of inspiration needs to be encouraged. Put a glass around that small candle and protect it from discouragement or ridicule.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Kitchen Privileges: A Memoir By Mary Higgins Clark, New York: Simon And Schuster, 2002, Prologue, P. 10) source
(Kitchen Privileges: A Memoir By Mary Higgins Clark, New York: Simon And Schuster, 2002, Ch. Two, P. 29) source
“I’m no prude, but I think there’s a way you can tell a story that will grip you without that… the story should be one that makes you jump.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Mary Higgins Clark Interview About New Book, ‘I’ll Walk Alone’ By Sandra McElwaine, DailyBeast, Apr 29, 2011) source
“Somebody once said, if you want to be happy for a year, win the lottery. If you want to be happy for a lifetime, love what you do. That’s the way it is for me — I love to spin yarns.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(A Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark about Two Little Girls in Blue, March 20, 2007) source
“He (Isaac Bashevis Singer) said that a writer must think of himself or herself primarily as a storyteller. Every book or story should figuratively begin with the words ‘once upon a time.’” – Mary Higgins Clark
(A Conversation With Mary Higgins Clark About Two Little Girls in Blue, March 20, 2007) source
“Something you read in the paper, something in the family. Ask yourself two questions, “suppose” and “what if,” and turn that true incident into fiction.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Mary Higgins Clark On Failure By Jay Dixit, Psychology Today, May 20, 2009) source
“Optimism and a sense of humor will get your through an awful lot. And realizing that this too shall pass, no matter how dark the day.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Mary Higgins Clark On Failure By Jay Dixit, Psychology Today, May 20, 2009) source
“I write about ordinary people whose lives are invaded.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(The Reassuring Triumph Of The Good: An Interview With Mary Higgins Clark By Kimberly Olson Fakih, Library Journal 115.5, March 15, 1990, PP-34-37) source
“When I get my people and know who they are, they start doing things I didn’t expect them to do,… That’s when I know I have a story and keep going.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Q&A: At age 90, Mary Higgins Clark Is Still The Queen Of Literary Suspense By Jason Fraley, Washington’s Top News, February 15, 2018) source
“Authenticity of detail gives the ring of truth to a book.”- Mary Higgins Clark
(Suspense Writing By Mary Higgins Clark, writermag.com, Oct 21, 2018, Originally Published July 29, 2014) source
“Get it down. Bumble through it. Tell the story. Then when you have 50 or 100 pages typed, you’ve got something to work with.” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Suspense Writing By Mary Higgins Clark, writermag.com, Oct 21, 2018, Originally Published July 29, 2014) source
“You’re a fiction writer, invent, go further, say to yourself, ‘What if?’” – Mary Higgins Clark
(Suspense Writing By Mary Higgins Clark, writermag.com, Oct 21, 2018, Originally Published July 29, 2014) source
Note: You can read/download Mary Higgins Clark’s novels online for FREE over here and here.
You can read “Where Are The Children?” here.