“That story was the only thing I have ever done which cost me…”

“That story was the only thing I have ever done which cost me absolutely no pains at all. Usually I compose only with great difficulty and endless rewriting. I woke up one day (more than 2 years ago) with that odd thing virtually complete in my head. It took only a few hours to get down, and then copy out.”

— J. R. R. Tolkien

Verification

Attributed

Recorded by a reliable secondary source; exact wording may differ.

Imported from Wikiquote; not yet checked by QuoteQuest against the original source.

Source

Title: Wikiquote: J. R. R. Tolkien
Type: reference · Secondary source
Held by: Wikiquote

View source at Wikiquote

Context

About "Leaf by Niggle", in a letter to Stanley Unwin (18 March 1945)

Cite this source

Tolkien, J. R. R.. (n.d.). Wikiquote: J. R. R. Tolkien. Wikiquote. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien

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Provenance: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA)