Writing Quotes

A tweet a day keeps writer's block away.

A cliffhanger is when ...

Climax: It's all downhill from here.

Writer. Another word for poor.

Write on!

The power of the delete key.

It seemed to me then that to have published a book - any kind of book - would be the greatest possible happiness I could ask from life.

Never take yourself too seriously. Learn to let go and let the words flow.

If you really have talent, you know, you'll go on writing - whatever people say to you.

Definition of a Writer: One who tells stories that demand to be told.

Women’s fiction” doesn’t sound like anything but a slur to my ears.

Writing isn't difficult. Writing well is difficult. What is most difficult is being with the interior experience that manifests as resistance to writing.

But then all writers smoke, don't they? And drink? And sit in front of computer screens till their arteries clog and muscles atrophy?

I consider whoever my words land on to be my target, that’s why I like flash fiction, it’s a lot like using a shotgun.

Without us, in other words, there can never be hope of a We.

What do you feel like you SHOULD be doing instead of writing? IF you have an answer, then you have guilt. The "should" of life are always linked to guilt.

The writing talent of Edinburgh is textured - we have poets, novelists, non-fiction writers, dramatists and more.

Having instant feedback on twitter to research material I'm considering is an enormous help.

Writing is capturing life, recording the human condition, and trying to glean meaning from it.

The longer I don't write, the more I hurt.

No one ever tells you that: that there’s no method. Writing’s a lawless place.

Every time you go to see Hamlet you don't expect it to have a happy ending...you're still enthralled.(Interview BBC Radio 4 Today 17 October 2012.)

Once again discovered: Do what you do because you enjoy. If expect others to give credit or honor your work, you are due for disappointment

That’s why it’s difficult to write about your own life. Any distortion feels like a betrayal.

I thought and pondered -- vainly. I felt that blank incapability of invention which is the greatest misery of authorship, when dull Nothing replies to our anxious invocations,

Writing is 90% struggle. The other 10% is up to you.

I have all the power, but you will destroy me. “Only your walls, Lark.” He deepened the kiss, licking into my mouth as if he knew he’d find me there hiding from him.

You don’t create a diamond by rubbing it with fluffy bunny slippers. You need to apply pressure and heat. There are enough air-headed cheerleaders out there. We need more drill sergeants.

If Makar Denisych was just a clerk or a junior manager, then no one would have dared talk to him in such a condescending, casual tone, but he is a 'writer', and a talentless medio

Will you read this? I think maybe it sucks. Or maybe it's awesome. It's probably awesome. Tell me it's awesome, okay? Unless it sucks." — Nick

Before publication, and if provided by persons whose judgment you trust, yes, of course criticism helps. But after something is published, all I want to read or hear is praise.

If the world like it not, so much the worse for them.

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick

There is probably no hell for authors in the next world--they suffer so much from critics and publishers in this one.

A writer's tragedy: to know all the words and nothing else.

A man's grammar, like Caesar's wife, should not only be pure, but above suspicion of impurity.

It's okay to write crap. Just don't try publishing it while it's still crap.

From my writer's workshop, "Know when it's time to put everything you've got on the page. Then, rip open a vein and do it!

No good story is quite true.

Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what's wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

Life is not a submarine.

Just get it down on paper, and then we’ll see what to do with it.

Good writing demands self-discipline and constant learning

The most basic rule of editing is that if you can’t bear to read it, no one else can either. So when you find yourself skimming, commit murder.

Writing a full length novel is very much like driving a car with snakes in your pants—you just never know what’s going to happen. -- James Scott Bell

Writer's block, for me, is merely a way of saying "I'm too lazy to sit down and give it the proper time." I want to be a progressive writer, not a lazy one.

You can only write regularly if you’re willing to write badly… Accept bad writing as a way of priming the pump, a warm-up exercise that allows you to write well.

[G]ive nothing centrality, because writing is about continually shifting weight from one thing and moment to the other.

Write about only three things: what you love, what you hate, and what you’re deeply conflicted about.

Storytelling is in our DNA. It's what differentiates humans from other species: we don't just communicate information. We tell stories.