Writing Advice Quotes - Page 11

Don’t break the rules when you haven’t fully figured them out yet.

To be a writer - write! To be an author - publish! To be a bestselling author - never stop writing!

People speak even after their death. Only do speak those who have recorded their speech in writing before they die, the rest go silent forever

To forget oneself-to lose oneself in the music, in the moment- that kind of absorption seems to be at the heart of every creative endeavor.

Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.

The only difference between writers and people who don't write is that writers aren't afraid to display their demons.

Ultimately, then, creativity and originality lie not in the avoidance of established forms but in the imaginative use of them.

I cannot tell you how important fresh, crisp writing is for an aspiring writer. Plot is great. The overall concept is super important. But the writing is what sells your work. It all boils down to the words you choose and the order in which you arrange them.

Let your characters lead when you're dancing together.

The solution to entrapment in the narcissistic hothouse of self is to not relinquish autobiographical writing, but to expand the self by bringing one's curiosity to interface with more and more history and the present world.

Imagination? It is the one thing beside honesty that a good writer must have. The more he learns from experience the more he can imagine.

Every book I've read appears in my writing.

...my writing is a wild mustang - more thunderous than a lightning storm -and all my skill which I call art, is devoted to simply staying on...

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.

Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is beyond our reach. The best time to write is now, in the present.

Audiences will admire your character’s strength but connect with them through their weakness.

There may be a Nurse Ratched-like listing of things that must be done right this moment: foods that must come out of the freezer, appointments that must be canceled or made, hairs that must be tweezed. But you hold an imaginary gun to your head and make yourself stay at the desk.

True authors don't write for fame or to make a name or money, they write to make impact

There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer station. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you.

Shut up, Ray.

I'm going to write a novel and get it published. I'm going to do it because writing a novel is worthwhile and because I have the talent to do it.I'm going to do it because I have something important to say to the world.I refuse to let anything get in my way.

Someone asked me, 'How do you write a book?' I said, 'I live with a pen in one hand.

The best writing is when one writes from the soul

Don’t interrupt when your characters take a flight of their own.

You must learn to be three people at once: writer, character, and reader.

Never use the passive voice. Do not say, 'It will get done.' Say, 'I'll do it,' and then stick to a solid, unwavering deadline

A writer gets to live yet another life every time she creates a new story.

Writing is a solitary endeavor, being an author is not.

I personally believe that one learns to write by writing.

Fresh writing and an original twist on an old idea. As much as this term is hated in the industry, it doesn't make it any less true. High concept. Simply put, you take a universal concept, something that has been done a million times (because everything has been done a million times), and add a fresh twist to it. Something no one saw coming. But mostly fresh writing! Keep it clean, simple, and compelling.

I disagree with the advice of 'write about what you know.' Write about what you need to know, in an effort to understand.

The skill of writing needs much patience, practicing, and time. There is no good writing from a quick effort, or a confused writer.

One should write only those books from whose absence one suffers. In short: the ones you want on your own desk.

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.

Here's one prophecy the writer can make - you'll never be rich and you'll probably be poor.

Backstory is like a flavour you can’t quite pick, lurking in the layers of a curry. You know it’s there and it enhances the flavour, but it’s intangible and fleeting. Use it sparingly!

It's good to write badly. Things can only get better.

I hope you will go out and let stories, that is life, happen to you,and that you will work with these stories from your life--not someone else's life--water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. That is the work. The only work.

When you feel that creeping self-doubt, acknowledge it. Write down your feelings in your journal... and then continue with your writing.

Dreams are good at playing with your memory. They love leaving no trace behind and hate to show up once again in the morning.

At its most basic we are only discussing a learned skill, but do we not agree that sometimes the most basic skills can create things far beyond our expectations? We are talking about tools and carpentry, about words and style...but as we move along, you'd do well to remember that we are also talking about magic.

Only something extremely dire and disabling will ever stop a real writer from writing. Retirement is never an option.

You never know what you will write until you write it

Cliches are the viruses that infect your writing with diseases.

Make time to write every day. The writing muscle is like any other muscle; the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.