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Writing Quotes
"Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness."
189
"I have an editor in my head, that's why I can't read Harry Potter, because Rowling is such a lousy writer."
174
"If you know what you are going to write when you're writing a poem, it's going to be average."
172
"That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. It is my way of judging what I am doing - which is never an easy thing to do."
153
"Modern American cinema seems to me superficial. The intention is to understand a certain reality, and the result is nothing but a photographing of that reality."
140
"No, absolutely not, writing doesn't have to be like a jigsaw puzzle, it can be a very linear undertaking."
139
"I think writers rush in where everybody is very frightened to tread."
137
"Never be lucid, never state, if you would be regarded great."
136
"It's my own personal unconscious that ultimately creates the novel's aesthetic facade."
135
"We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones."
114
"What an odd thing a diary is: the things you omit are more important than those you put in."
97
"I write to discover what I think. After all, the bars aren't open that early."
96
"It's rare that I actually have a story in my head. I have events or 'what's the next move?' Like, Maggie, 'where's she going to go in this story, where's she going to end up?' Then the story has to fill in the in-between, and that comes as I'm starting it."
70
"We're writing a book together. She just finished one. Did you read it? Among the Porcupines?"
70
"I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter."
68
"It took man thousands of years to put words down on paper, and his lawyers still wish he wouldn't."
66
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."
65
"Hey, over here! Have your picture taken with a reclusive author! Today only, we'll throw in a free autograph! But wait, there's more!"
64
"Writing is really very easy. Tap a vein and bleed onto the page. Everything else is just technical."
63
"That's why, when Alias came along, I knew I'd be OK if the show was on for five or six years because the writing was so good and the creative team was so strong."
63
"Well, writing was what I wanted to do, it was always what I wanted to do. I had novels to write so I wrote them."
61
"Writing about dead white males seems to be out of favor among academics."
61
"In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable."
60
"If certain aspect needs to be inconsistent, it must better be consistently inconsistent throughout the story."
60
"When you're writing for newspapers you have all these parameters. You can't swear, you have to use short paragraphs, all that. If you stay within those parameters, you have lots of freedom because you're writing for the next day."
59
"A pen that has clocked up a million words, a lifetime's memories, is worth more than the centrepiece in a jeweller's window."
57
"The first book I ever wrote was in fourth grade and it was called 'Billy's Booger.' It was an autobiographical piece about a kid who was really bad at math."
54
"It helps to be able to be alone. 'Cuz writing is done alone, unless you collaborate, but I don't do that. Ask my ex-wife."
54
"I spend about eight months researching and outlining my book."
54
"All the nice things about Suzanne are me. All the things that aren't nice, that was just the writing."
52
"I don't know why I started writing. I don't know why anybody does it. Maybe they're bored, or failures at something else."
51
"I never think about the actual process of writing. I suppose I have a superstition about examining it too closely."
51
"People keep asking me ...How to instantly become a better writer? It's simple: Use "power words" and see for yourself."
51
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