"Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book."

Writing, End, First, Mystery

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"Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book."

Exlpore more Writing quotes

"It just happens to be the way that I'm made. I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them."

Haruki Murakami, Japanese Writer

Writing, Understanding, Expression

"A writer's primary goal is to make sense. The bookstore's is to make cents."

Mokokoma Mokhonoana, South African Philosopher

Writing, Truth, Power, Wisdom, Life

"A writer's duty is to draw a picture that expresses more inner beauty, deeper anxiety, and more complex tragedy than a real character ever can."

Debasish Mridha, American Author

Writing, Writer, Duty, Beauty, Anxiety

"Remember Stephen King's First Rule of Writers and Agents, learned by bitter personal experience: You don't need one until you're making enough for someone to steal ... and if you're making that much, you'll be able to take your pick of good agents."

Stephen King, American Author

Writing, Truth, Wisdom, Power, Today

"Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing."

Sylvia Plath, American Poet

Writing, Nothing

"Silence fell like a hammer made of feathers. It left holes in the shape of the sound of the sea."

Terry Pratchett, English Author

Writing, Truth, Happiness, Today, Wisdom

"Write out of love. Your piece will finish itself."

A. D. Posey, American Poet

Writing, Love, Creativity, Art

"At the inauguration of each sentence, the writer commences with an optimistic sense of curiosity. Similar to an inquisitive explorer, a writer begins each thoughtful decree with an appreciative sense of the unknown and ends with a reverent regard for the unanswerable. Repeating this instigating act of discovery by placing a combination of sentences down on paper creates a unique verdict. The writer's compilation of pronouncements expresses their interpretation of life. Replicating this creative endeavor in the futile effort to say it all imitates the revolving mystery of life where physical reality and mysterious forces of nature operate upon humankind."

Kilroy J. Oldster, American Author

Writing, Curiosity, Discovery, Life

"The worst thing for a writer is to know another writer, and worse than that, to know a number of other writers. Like flies on the same turd."

Charles Bukowski, American Author

Writing, Criticism, Community, Creativity

"Everyone assumes writers spend their time lounging around, writing and occasionally striking a pose whilst having a think."

Sara Sheridan, Scottish Author

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Explore more quotes by Mickey Spillane

"I know an awful lot of Hollywood people, who are so self-important, I can't understand it."

People

"Where I am they can smell out a hurricane. My house survived Hurricane Hazel, but it didn't get past Hugo."

Past

"Stephen King. Now I'm not crazy about him, but he's a great a writer."

Now

"I started off at the high level, in the slick magazines, but they didn't use my name, they used house names. Anyway, then I went downhill to the pulps, then downhill further to the comics."

Writing

"Oh yeah, I was one of the first guys writing comic books, I wrote Captain America, with guys like Stan Lee, who became famous later on with Marvel Comics."

Writing

"If the public likes you, you're good."

Public

"I played in a movie called Ring of Fear with Clyde Beatty and Pat O'Brien."

Fear

"See, heroes never die. John Wayne isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead. Otherwise you don't have a hero. You can't kill a hero. That's why I never let him get older."

Heroism

"Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney."

History

"Hemingway hated me. I sold 200 million books, and he didn't. Of course most of mine sold for 25 cents, but still... you look at all this stuff with a grain of salt."

Books