Writing Quotes | Beyond Motive 12/27

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Writing Quotes

"Writing is good, thinking is better. Cleverness is good, patience is better."

"Writing is good, thinking is better. Cleverness is good, patience is better."

Herman Hesse, German Author

Writing, Cleverness, Patience, Thinking

28

"I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on."

"I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on."

Rita Dove, American Poet

Writing, Moments

28

"I write novellas because I don't like loose sprawling prose."

"I write novellas because I don't like loose sprawling prose."

Jim Harrison, American Writer

28

"I think the hard work of writing is just how long a book is terrible before it's good."

"I think the hard work of writing is just how long a book is terrible before it's good."

Leigh Bardugo, Israeli Author

Writing, Patience, Creativity, Process

28

"Nobody can assume that, to a writer, everything is off-limits."

"Nobody can assume that, to a writer, everything is off-limits."

Ann Beattie, American Writer

28

"A hammer made of deadlines is the surest tool for crushing writer's block."

"A hammer made of deadlines is the surest tool for crushing writer's block."

Ryan Lilly, American Entrepreneur

Writing, Truth, Observation, Wisdom

28

"No one can write like Vallejo and not sound like a fraud. He's just too much himself and not you."

"No one can write like Vallejo and not sound like a fraud. He's just too much himself and not you."

Philip Levine, American Poet

Writing, Fraud, Sound

28

"You can't edit a blank page."

"You can't edit a blank page."

Nora Roberts, American Author

Writing, Creativity, Procrastination, Discipline

28

"Writing is pretty crummy on the nerves."

"Writing is pretty crummy on the nerves."

Paul Theroux, American Novelist

Writing, Nerves, Pretty

28

"I'm big on having a blistering pace. That's one of the hallmarks of what I do, and that's not easy. I never blow up cars and things like that, so it's something else that keeps the suspense flowing. I try not to write a chapter that isn't going to turn on the movie projector in your head."

"I'm big on having a blistering pace. That's one of the hallmarks of what I do, and that's not easy. I never blow up cars and things like that, so it's something else that keeps the suspense flowing. I try not to write a chapter that isn't going to turn on the movie projector in your head."

James Patterson, American Author

Writing, Creativity, Suspense, Storytelling

28

"ALWAYS hook a reader. If a detail is unnecessary, it doesn't belong in your work, long or short! Make everything intriguing. If you have to describe a desk, make it awesome."

"ALWAYS hook a reader. If a detail is unnecessary, it doesn't belong in your work, long or short! Make everything intriguing. If you have to describe a desk, make it awesome."

Darynda Jones, American Author

Writing, Creativity, Expression, Focus

28

"My lyrics are generated by various peculiar processes. Very random and similar to automatic writing."

"My lyrics are generated by various peculiar processes. Very random and similar to automatic writing."

Brian Eno, British Musician

28

"I have likened writing a novel to going on a journey, with some notion of the destination I will arrive at, but not the whole picture - which emerges gradually as a series of revelations, as the journey goes along."

"I have likened writing a novel to going on a journey, with some notion of the destination I will arrive at, but not the whole picture - which emerges gradually as a series of revelations, as the journey goes along."

Rose Tremain, English Novelist

Writing, Journey, Will

28

"Perhaps that suspicion of fraud enhances the flavor."

"Perhaps that suspicion of fraud enhances the flavor."

C. S. Forester, English Novelist

Writing, Fraud, Suspicion

28

"I find it both fascinating and disconcerting when I discover yet another person who believes that writing can't be taught. Frankly, I don't understand this point of view."

"I find it both fascinating and disconcerting when I discover yet another person who believes that writing can't be taught. Frankly, I don't understand this point of view."

Elizabeth George, American Author

28

"I accept challenges, I have always done that in writing."

"I accept challenges, I have always done that in writing."

Jack Prelutsky, American Poet

28

"Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window."

"Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window."

William Faulkner, American Novelist

Writing, Learning, Discipline, Creativity

27

"What I don't have in theater is editing."

"What I don't have in theater is editing."

Julie Taymor, American Director

Writing, Theater

27

"The Kalahari is brilliant - and easy to visit."

"The Kalahari is brilliant - and easy to visit."

Nigel Dennis, British Writer

27

"I am never going to write for the sake of writing."

"I am never going to write for the sake of writing."

Emma Lazarus, American Poet

27

"I concentrate on the southern African subcontinent."

"I concentrate on the southern African subcontinent."

Nigel Dennis, British Writer

Writing, African

27

"I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles."

"I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles."

Shannon Hale, American Author

Writing, Creation, Process, Imagination

27

"A writer must be hard to live with: when not working he is miserable, and when he is working he is obsessed. Or so it is with me. Thus my writing life consists of spells of languor alternating with fits and spasms of mad typing. At all times, though, I keep a journal, a record book, and most everything begins in the form of notes scribbled down on the pages of that journal."

"A writer must be hard to live with: when not working he is miserable, and when he is working he is obsessed. Or so it is with me. Thus my writing life consists of spells of languor alternating with fits and spasms of mad typing. At all times, though, I keep a journal, a record book, and most everything begins in the form of notes scribbled down on the pages of that journal."

Edward Abbey, American Author

Writing, Obsession, Creativity, Discipline

27

"Writing has become such an outlet for me that when I don't have it, I just get pent up."

"Writing has become such an outlet for me that when I don't have it, I just get pent up."

Emm Gryner, Canadian Musician

27

"We took Beowulf, the epic poem in Old English, and put it right together with John Gardner's contemporary retelling. If you bring it into today, we really feel that it has something very fresh to say now."

"We took Beowulf, the epic poem in Old English, and put it right together with John Gardner's contemporary retelling. If you bring it into today, we really feel that it has something very fresh to say now."

Julie Taymor, American Director

Writing, English, Now, Old, Right

27

"If a reporter doesn't like the person he's writing about, it shows up in his article."

"If a reporter doesn't like the person he's writing about, it shows up in his article."

Willie Stargell, American Athlete

27

"The Bible is very resonant. It has everything: creation, betrayal, lust, poetry, prophecy, sacrifice. All great things are in the Bible, and all great writers have drawn from it and more than people realise, whether Shakespeare, Herman Melville or Bob Dylan."

"The Bible is very resonant. It has everything: creation, betrayal, lust, poetry, prophecy, sacrifice. All great things are in the Bible, and all great writers have drawn from it and more than people realise, whether Shakespeare, Herman Melville or Bob Dylan."

Patti Smith, American Musician

Writing, Literature, Knowledge, Inspirational, Creativity

27

"I always treated writing as a profession, never as a hobby. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will."

"I always treated writing as a profession, never as a hobby. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will."

Laurell K. Hamilton, American Writer

Writing, Profession, Will

27

"Until the 20th century it was generally assumed that a writer had said what he had to say in his works."

"Until the 20th century it was generally assumed that a writer had said what he had to say in his works."

John Updike, American Novelist

Writing, Writer

27

"I got $30 from Nation magazine for a poem and $500 for my first book of poems."

"I got $30 from Nation magazine for a poem and $500 for my first book of poems."

Jim Harrison, American Writer

Writing, First, Nation, Poems

27

"I had this really great amazing thing happen where I almost finished the book and I really needed to come up with an ending and I decided to go back and re-read the book and see if I could come up with an ending."

"I had this really great amazing thing happen where I almost finished the book and I really needed to come up with an ending and I decided to go back and re-read the book and see if I could come up with an ending."

Cory Doctorow, Canadian Journalist

Writing, Ending

27

"If you don't have obsessions, don't write. my characters are obsessed."

"If you don't have obsessions, don't write. my characters are obsessed."

Marguerite Young, American Author

Writing, Obsessions

27

"Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter."

"Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter."

Peter De Vries, American Novelist

27

"Ms Rainn, you might say, is a writing prodigy and I'm her mentor."

"Ms Rainn, you might say, is a writing prodigy and I'm her mentor."

S. A. Tawks, British Author

Writing, Guidance, Learning, Art

27

"There are lots of guys out there who write a better prose line than I do and who have a better understanding of what people are really like and what humanity is supposed to mean " hell, I know that."

"There are lots of guys out there who write a better prose line than I do and who have a better understanding of what people are really like and what humanity is supposed to mean " hell, I know that."

Stephen King, American Author

Writing, Wisdom, Truth, Regret, Inspirational

27

"But what is more to the point is my belief that the habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. Never mind the misses and the stumbles."

"But what is more to the point is my belief that the habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. Never mind the misses and the stumbles."

Virginia Woolf, British Author

Writing, Practice, Creativity, Improvement

26

"What I do say is that I can write verse, and that the writing of verse in strict form is the best possible training for writing good prose."

"What I do say is that I can write verse, and that the writing of verse in strict form is the best possible training for writing good prose."

Philip Pullman, British Writer

Writing, Prose, Training

26

"I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of."

"I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of."

Dashiell Hammett, American Author

Writing, Influence, Literature

26

"I can't tell you any more than any other writer can tell you why they write, and I don't know what my influences are."

"I can't tell you any more than any other writer can tell you why they write, and I don't know what my influences are."

Jean M. Auel, American Writer

26

"When you finish a poem, it clicks shut like the top of a jewel box, but prose is endless. I haven't experienced an awful lot of clicking shut!"

"When you finish a poem, it clicks shut like the top of a jewel box, but prose is endless. I haven't experienced an awful lot of clicking shut!"

Kenneth Koch, American Poet

26

"The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated."

"The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated."

B. C. Forbes, Scottish Journalist

Writing, Bargain, Satisfaction

26

"A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity."

"A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity."

Franz Kafka, Austrian Novelist

Writing, Insanity, Art, Mind

26

"Especially in the last 10 years, the writing on animated shows has jumped by leaps and bounds."

"Especially in the last 10 years, the writing on animated shows has jumped by leaps and bounds."

Will Friedle, American Actor

26

"And there never was an apple, in Adam's opinion, that wasn't worth the trouble you got into for eating it."

"And there never was an apple, in Adam's opinion, that wasn't worth the trouble you got into for eating it."

Neil Gaiman, British Author

Writing, Eating, Opinion, Trouble, Worth

26

"I write because I can't imagine not writing."

"I write because I can't imagine not writing."

Richard Price, American Writer

26

"What I wanted to do was to get that sense of being in touch with this lost world while holding onto what draws readers and audiences there in the first place."

"What I wanted to do was to get that sense of being in touch with this lost world while holding onto what draws readers and audiences there in the first place."

Stephen Greenblatt, American Critic

Writing, Audiences, Being, First, Sense

26

"I'm like a junkie for writing."

"I'm like a junkie for writing."

Gavin DeGraw, American Musician

26

"She worded it a bit strongly, but I do find myself more and more struck by the differences between the sexes. To put it another way: All marriages are mixed marriages."

"She worded it a bit strongly, but I do find myself more and more struck by the differences between the sexes. To put it another way: All marriages are mixed marriages."

Anne Tyler, American Novelist

26

"I think the hardest part of writing is revising. And by that I mean the following: A novelist has to create the piece of marble and then chip away to find the figure in it."

"I think the hardest part of writing is revising. And by that I mean the following: A novelist has to create the piece of marble and then chip away to find the figure in it."

Chaim Potok, American Author

26

"There is a kind of mysticism to writing."

"There is a kind of mysticism to writing."

Irvine Welsh, Scottish Novelist

26

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