Denise Mina Quotes

Powerful Denise Mina for Daily Growth

About Denise Mina

Denise Mina is a critically acclaimed Scottish crime writer who has captivated readers worldwide with her gripping narratives and nuanced characterizations. Born on November 14, 1966, in Glasgow, Scotland, Mina grew up in the city's East End, an experience that heavily influenced her writing. She attended the University of Glasgow, where she studied English Literature. Mina's writing career began in journalism, working for various Scottish newspapers before turning to fiction. Her debut novel, "Garnethill" (1998), was shortlisted for the first Whitbread First Novel Award and launched her as a promising new voice in British crime fiction. The novel centers around a woman suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who becomes embroiled in a series of crimes in Glasgow's Garnethill district. Following the success of "Garnethill," Mina wrote several other standalone novels, including "Exile" (2003), which was shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award, and "The Field of Blood" (2015), a historical crime novel set in the aftermath of the Glasgow Riots of 1911. In 2007, Mina introduced Detective Inspector Alex Morrow, the protagonist of her series of crime novels that includes "Field of Darkness" (2009), "The Red Road" (2011), and "Gods and Beasts" (2013). These novels delve into the complexities of Glasgow's criminal underworld and the struggles of a woman trying to balance her personal life with her demanding career as a detective. Mina's works are known for their exploration of social issues, particularly those affecting women, and her ability to craft compelling narratives that blur the line between crime fiction and mainstream literature. Her novel "The Long Drop" (2017) was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, further solidifying her status as a prominent figure in contemporary Scottish literature.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Everything you think you know about crime, everything you believe, is wrong."

This quote by Denise Mina emphasizes that our conventional understanding or beliefs about crime may not always be accurate or complete. It suggests that the portrayal of crime in media, literature, and popular culture often oversimplifies or distorts the complexity of criminal behavior. The statement encourages us to approach the topic with an open mind and a willingness to challenge our assumptions, as understanding crime requires a nuanced perspective that takes into account various social, psychological, and economic factors influencing it.

"Fear doesn't mean you should stop living."

The quote by Denise Mina, "Fear doesn't mean you should stop living," suggests that fear is a natural emotion but it should not prevent us from engaging in life. Instead, it serves as a signal to be cautious or to prepare ourselves for potential challenges. It encourages us to face our fears and continue to live boldly despite them. Embracing life, even when we're afraid, enriches our experiences and allows personal growth to occur.

"Truth is relative. It depends on who's telling it."

This quote emphasizes that truth can be subjective, depending on the perspective or bias of the individual sharing it. It suggests that truth isn't absolute but rather influenced by personal experiences, beliefs, or interests, making multiple versions of truth possible. In other words, what one person considers as true may not align with someone else's perception of reality. This idea can be applied to various aspects of life, such as history, science, and personal experiences, reminding us to approach information critically and consider different viewpoints when seeking the truth.

"Secrets don't always stay buried."

This quote emphasizes that secrets, although carefully concealed, have a tendency to surface eventually. The passage of time, human nature, or external circumstances may lead to the revelation of hidden truths, even when people try their best to keep them buried. It serves as a reminder that discretion and honesty are essential for maintaining healthy relationships and upholding integrity in all aspects of life.

"The truth is that the people we love, they hurt us."

This quote highlights a universal truth about human relationships: those we care for deeply have the potential to cause pain. It's not about malicious intent but rather an inherent part of close connections, where vulnerability and trust make one susceptible to emotional injury. The message underscores the paradox that love, which brings immense joy, can also inflict deep wounds. Yet, it emphasizes that such experiences are a testament to the strength and significance of our bonds with others.

In prose, leaps of logic can be made while the protagonist thinks about things and arrives at conclusions. Even with voiceover, there's no real way of having an inner voice without it taking over the entire story.

- Denise Mina

Voice, About, Voiceover, Conclusions

We don't really go in for big family dinners, but Scottish people are famously confrontational. It's a cultural thing, so maybe we don't need to have them to clear the air. Also, traditional family food isn't as nice here so there's no payoff for traveling hundreds of miles.

- Denise Mina

Big, Here, Maybe, Scottish

I love bleak things.

- Denise Mina

Love, Things, I Love, Bleak

The idea of suicide is of a very set narrative, as if killing yourself is a definitive statement. But it can be just as meaningless as throwing a stone in a river.

- Denise Mina

Idea, Very, Set, Definitive

If you went for a job interview in a Glasgow law firm, they used to ask you what school you went to. And that was a way of finding out what religion you were.

- Denise Mina

Law, Used, Glasgow, Interview

I always wanted to work at 'Take A Break' magazine, you know, just to inject a little bit of politics into their stories. I applied for a job there after I'd done my law degree and didn't even get an interview. I only wrote 'Garnethill' because I didn't get that job!

- Denise Mina

Politics, Applied, Bit, Interview

In the forensic science course I took at university they used photographs of dead bodies. For ballistics they showed us a guy lying on the floor, and his head had burst.

- Denise Mina

University, Took, Bodies, Forensic

In the 'Garnethill' trilogy, people always forget that Maureen O'Donnell's dad was a journalist and she did art history at uni and her brother did law, but no-one ever thinks they're middle-class - they're just working class because they speak with accents.

- Denise Mina

Working Class, Dad, Maureen, Trilogy

I just got an honorary degree from Glasgow University, and I had to wear around very painful shoes so that I didn't laugh all the way through the ceremony because I felt like an outlaw.

- Denise Mina

Through, Outlaw, Very, Honorary

With my earlier books, I got quite bored being with one protagonist all the way through. With the Alex Morrow books, I wanted to do something a bit more holistic, so there were lots of different points of view, and I wanted to look at aspects of crime that you don't tend to look at.

- Denise Mina

Through, Aspects, Bit, Alex

I respond very well to rules. If there are certain parameters it's much easier to do something really good. Especially when readers know what those are. They know what to expect and then you have to wrong-foot them. That is the trick of crime fiction. And readers come to crime and graphic novels wanting to be entertained, or disgusted.

- Denise Mina

Fiction, Wanting, Very, Disgusted

I'm terrified to get married. I'm not getting married till my gay friends can.

- Denise Mina

Getting, Till, Terrified, Get Married

The book I made it big with in the U.S. was my fourth book, 'Sanctum.' My novels sell really well both there and in Canada, so once a year I do a promotional tour, visiting a different city every two days, doing book readings and signings.

- Denise Mina

Doing, Big, Visiting, Novels

There's a real emphasis on being witty in Scotland, even in crime novels.

- Denise Mina

Witty, Emphasis, Even, Novels

I think graphic novels are closer to prose than film, which is a really different form.

- Denise Mina

Think, Prose, Which, Novels

I'm not much of a plotter. I start off with an inciting incident, and in classic crime fiction what happens is that all the action flows from that incident. It's very comfy when it all ties up and feels like a complete universe, but my stuff doesn't always work that way.

- Denise Mina

Fiction, Very, Feels, Incident

I'm always represented as a bit of a class warrior - a bit Down With Men and Down With Middle-Class People. Whereas I'm actually very fond of men and am middle-class. I even went to boarding school in Perthshire.

- Denise Mina

Always, Middle-Class, Very, Whereas

I was very aware of office politics because I was so baffled by them. So much so goes unsaid. No one says 'you're a cheeky so-and-so,' no one says 'you're so moody,' nobody ever confronts anyone else about anything. But I'm very crass, and I'm very confrontational, and I have a temper. I had to be hyper-vigilant in every office I worked in.

- Denise Mina

Politics, Very, About, Confrontational

Journalism is a Darwinian process.

- Denise Mina

Process, Darwinian, Journalism

Usually when I'm trying to establish character, I try and find out where they live.

- Denise Mina

Character, Trying, Find, Establish

People are very frightened in publishing at the moment. Nobody knows what sells. More so now because the market's changing so fundamentally because of Kindle and electronic publishing. It's a fundamental shift in the way stories are put out into the world.

- Denise Mina

Shift, Very, Fundamental, Frightened

It's all chaos and the house is occasionally filthy but I get to stand at the school gates. Writers are so lucky to have that flexibility.

- Denise Mina

Chaos, Lucky, Writers, Filthy

Even if people do wrong, we're social animals, so what can we do about stopping them doing the same things in future? Saying people are 'bad' or 'evil' is just an unwillingness to engage; an unwillingness to try to empathise. That sanctimonious attitude doesn't help anyone.

- Denise Mina

Doing, Bad, About, Stopping

I have had quite a few obsessive fans. They write to me and then they turn up at signings and look really sheepish. If I said 'boo' to them, they would run away. I think they maybe believe I could take over their lives and sort them out. If they saw the state of my kitchen they wouldn't think that.

- Denise Mina

Away, I Think, Boo, Kitchen

I think the negative traits are what makes us love other human beings, the foibles and the flaws.

- Denise Mina

Love, Think, Other, Flaws

Crime is a very hard genre to feminise. If you have a female protagonist she is going to be looking after her mum when she gets older; she is going to be worried about her brother and sister; she will be making a living while bringing up kids.

- Denise Mina

Very, Making A Living, Mum, Worried

I hate it when I'm reading a comic, and the dialogue looks like stickers stuck on top to explain what's going on. For me the best is when your eye goes in a certain point and moves through the composition and then springs out on the dialogue, or gets confused in the image and then goes to the dialogue for an explanation.

- Denise Mina

Through, Explain, Springs, Stuck

Crime fiction is the fiction of social history. Societies get the crimes they deserve.

- Denise Mina

Deserve, Fiction, Social, Societies

You have to take your ego out of it and say, do I want people to be obsequious to me or do I want to write good books? If it's the latter, you have to take criticism. It's annoying, but that's how to do good stuff; listen to other people.

- Denise Mina

Want, Say, Other, Annoying

I'd read so much right-wing crime fiction where they find the evidence and shoot the bad guy - I thought there must be another approach.

- Denise Mina

Bad, Evidence, Read, Shoot

My upbringing was middle-class but my parents' families were both working-class so I had this odd combination of working-class background but in a privileged position.

- Denise Mina

Middle-Class, Had, Families, Odd

Because I write prose, when I sat down to write a comic, it feels like my brain's working differently. It actually feels like different bits of my head are springing into action.

- Denise Mina

Prose, Feels, I Write, Springing

Novelisation doesn't imply the truth. Readers are sophisticated enough to know that.

- Denise Mina

Truth, Sophisticated, Imply, Readers

There are a lot of bottlenecks to getting published. Publishers are only one of them. Having the time is another one. Feeling entitled is another one.

- Denise Mina

Another, Entitled, Having, Published

I think the class divide is going to change. I think a lot more working class people are going to get published. It is really class ridden, literature.

- Denise Mina

Think, Going, I Think, Published

Because I write a book a year, I always want to do one other project every year that's stimulating in a different way. It means you can be working but not using up your prose juice, you know?

- Denise Mina

Year, Other, I Write, Juice

Comics don't work if the story is all in the text and the images are illustrative. It's hard to have enough faith in the artists to allow them to do their job.

- Denise Mina

Work, Allow, Images, Illustrative

To have a very strong opinion all the time is corrosive to a person's intellect. It becomes your default position.

- Denise Mina

Strong, Very, Default, Corrosive

It's very hard to be cut off in Glasgow because it's such a small city. You know, we have the highest rate of per-capita imprisonment, certainly in Britain, maybe in Europe. We have a very high murder rate here. So most people will know someone who's been to prison.

- Denise Mina

Small, Here, Very, Imprisonment

I came from this very traditional background and I benefited hugely from feminism. I felt privileged going to university and doing a PhD. Most people of my background don't get to do that.

- Denise Mina

Doing, Very, Hugely, Feminism

I grew up in London under Thatcher and that really was disgusting. A feeding frenzy.

- Denise Mina

London, Disgusting, Frenzy, Feeding

People are interested in crime fiction when they're quite distanced from crime. People in Darfur are not reading murder mysteries.

- Denise Mina

Reading, Fiction, Mysteries, Darfur

In my heart I'm just a lucky waitress.

- Denise Mina

Heart, Lucky, Just, Waitress

I love Mikhail Bulgakov. He is very original and takes the story to unexpected places. I didn't realise political writing could be so funny.

- Denise Mina

Love, Original, Very, Realise

I have two children. They are more fun than anything in the world, and it's more immediate fun than the hard slog of writing.

- Denise Mina

Two, More, Anything, Immediate

Most of the people who write to me are really clever, really engaged. They just want to say that they have read my book and liked it.

- Denise Mina

Want, Engaged, Read, Clever

There's always these giant baffling books, like 'The Da Vinci Code.' People say it's not as well written as 'Midnight's Children.' Why aren't people reading 'Midnight's Children?' Nobody knows why these phenomenons happen but they're great.

- Denise Mina

Children, Why, Code, Baffling

None of us know what is going to sell or what people want to read.

- Denise Mina

Want, Going, Read, Sell

My family were great story-tellers. My mum was one of 12 and they were all fighting to tell stories. You have to tell a good tale or no one is going to listen. You have to make it entertaining and interesting. That's how I learned to tell stories.

- Denise Mina

Stories, Entertaining, Mum, Tale

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