Did David Bowie (or anyone else) say something like this?

October 10, 2017 11:53 AM

"People are born with a certain number of songs about themselves and their lives inside of them. After they've written all of those songs, they have to learn how to write other people's stories too/instead."

A friend told me about reading an interview in a magazine circa 1994 with that quote, helping explain why Bowie took on different personas over the years, and it stuck with me. I've searched for it a few times but never found the quote or the interview, but this comment reminded me of it so I figured I'd throw it out to the green. It's possible it could have been someone other than Bowie but I'm 99% certain it was attributed to him.

posted by Candleman to Media & Arts (1 answer total)

I heard a variation of this from a fellow writer just this week, which was something along the lines of, "the first book you write is the semi-autobiographical one you have to get out of your system, and then you can figure out how to really write." I've butchered that, but it rings true, and you get the idea.
posted by bassomatic at 3:46 PM on October 10, 2017