American writer (1936- )
Writing is the hardest work I've ever done. I'm a mother, I had five children, I was working full-time, I was going to university at night, I got a master's degree in business administration, and I did all those things at the same time--and writing is the hardest thing.
JEAN M. AUEL
interview, goodreads, April 2011
Women could be trying at times, but they often brought warmth and pleasure to a man's fire.
JEAN M. AUEL
The Clan of the Cave Bear
Very often people come up with spiritual beliefs to answer questions. Why did my child get sick? Why did the rain come and flood the river? People don't--and still don't--have those answers, so we try to come up with reasons.
JEAN M. AUEL
interview, goodreads, April 2011
If you want to fall in love, you can't hold everything in. You have to open up, take that risk. You'll be hurt sometimes, but if you don't, you'll never be happy. The one you find may not be the kind of woman you expected to fall in love with, but it wont matter, you'll love her for exactly what she is.
JEAN M. AUEL
The Valley of Horses
Art was as much in the activity as in the results. Works of art were not just the finished product, but the thought, the action, the process that created them.
JEAN M. AUEL
The Mammoth Hunters
I don't know why my books are so popular. I'm writing to please only myself, a book I would like to read.
JEAN M. AUEL
Copperfield Review, April 28, 2012
After years of a very busy life, I found myself with no commitments. It was a very free-floating state that was open, perhaps, to new ideas.
JEAN M. AUEL
Copperfield Review, April 28, 2012
The Clan lived by unchanging tradition. Every facet of their lives from the time they were born until they were called to the world of the spirits was circumscribed by the past. It was an attempt at survival, unconscious and unplanned except by nature in a last-ditch effort to save the race from extinction, and doomed to failure. They could not stop change, and resistance to it was self-defeating, anti-survival.
JEAN M. AUEL
The Clan of the Cave Bear
The first draft of the entire six book series was written at one time, in one single burst of creative energy, over a four month period of 12 to 16 hour days of sustained writing, during which I did almost nothing else except additional research. I thought at the time that it would be one novel, Earth's Children, but it fell into six parts. It was only on rewriting that I realized that I had instead written an in-depth outline for a six book series.
JEAN M. AUEL
Copperfield Review, April 28, 2012
I can't tell you any more than any other writer can tell you why they write, and I don't know what my influences are. From the beginning, when I first got an idea for a story and wondered if I could write it, it has always been the story that has driven me. The idea led me into the research, which continues to give me more ideas for the story. While I try to make each book a complete novel, the series itself has an overarching story, which I want to finish. Perhaps, in a way, Ayla is sitting on my shoulder telling me to get on with it.
JEAN M. AUEL
interview, Aukon, September 2002
It's hard to believe that this long ago we--meaning Cro-Magnon modern humans--were the ones who invented art. Not every cave has gorgeous art, but the ones that do are spectacular. They utilize the bumps and the dips in the cave walls; it's not a flat surface like a painting. When you turn off the flashlight and strike a match instead, in that flickering light the shadows of these dips in the cave walls kind of move, and it almost makes you feel like those animals are alive. It's pretty spectacular.
JEAN M. AUEL
interview, goodreads, April 2011
A person could resist popular belief and stand up for personal principles, and though there may be consequences, not everything would necessarily be lost. In fact, something important might be gained, if only within oneself.
JEAN M. AUEL
The Mammoth Hunters
The earth we leave is beautiful and rich; it gave us all we needed for all the generations we have lived.
JEAN M. AUEL
The Clan of the Cave Bear (Enhanced Edition)
I don't want to be known for my face. I want to be known for my work.
JEAN M. AUEL
"Where I write: Jean M. Auel works late in her Southwest Portland condo", Oregon Live, September 27, 2011
Sometimes women who aren't perfect are more interesting; they've done more, or learned something.
JEAN M. AUEL
The Valley of Horses
The difference in the brains of men and women was imposed by nature, and only cemented by culture.
JEAN M. AUEL
The Clan of the Cave Bear
Again Creb grunted. It was the usual noncommittal comment used by men when responding to a woman. It carried only enough meaning to indicate the woman had been understood, without acknowledging too much significance in what she said.
JEAN M. AUEL
The Clan of the Cave Bear
When I first started I was obsessed--putting in 16 hours a day, seven days a week, and loving it. My in-laws told my husband that perhaps he should get some help for me. Once the book was published it was OK because writers can be a little crazy.
JEAN M. AUEL
interview, goodreads, April 2011
Right now, if I were lost in the wilderness, I feel that I could probably make it out, find a way to get home. I've learned a lot, and it's been great fun. Every single one of the caves in this last book I've been in--except for one very small one--and they really are exceptional.
JEAN M. AUEL
interview, goodreads, April 2011
There's no such thing as a writer's block. I get inspiration from working. I just have to push through and finally it'll start to come together again. The brain is always going, you just don't realize it.
JEAN M. AUEL
interview, goodreads, April 2011