Writing Quotes | Beyond Motive 13/27

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Writing Quotes

"I honestly feel like we never had a bad episode by TV standards. Every week I felt there were so many strong components of the show, especially the writing."

"I honestly feel like we never had a bad episode by TV standards. Every week I felt there were so many strong components of the show, especially the writing."

Donal Logue, Canadian Actor

26

"I didn't raise Todd to be a writer, but he happened to be one anyway."

"I didn't raise Todd to be a writer, but he happened to be one anyway."

Anne McCaffrey, American Author

Writing, Writer

26

"I surround myself with books when I write, thus surrounding myself with writers... only they don't critique me and then get up for coffee."

"I surround myself with books when I write, thus surrounding myself with writers... only they don't critique me and then get up for coffee."

Ryan Lilly, American Entrepreneur

Writing, Observation, Truth, Wisdom

26

"I've always felt that good writing does not have to be literary."

"I've always felt that good writing does not have to be literary."

Sara Sheridan, Scottish Author

Writing, Art, Expression, Authenticity

26

"Keep writing. Try to do a little bit every day, even if the result looks like crap. Getting from page four to page five is more important than spending three weeks getting page four perfect."

"Keep writing. Try to do a little bit every day, even if the result looks like crap. Getting from page four to page five is more important than spending three weeks getting page four perfect."

Alan Dean Foster, American Author

Writing, Day, Result

26

"I think if the writing comes too easily, it shows - it's usually hard to read."

"I think if the writing comes too easily, it shows - it's usually hard to read."

Tracy Kidder, American Author

26

"Day after day, week after week; writing great fiction takes time, emotion, skill and effort."

"Day after day, week after week; writing great fiction takes time, emotion, skill and effort."

Carla H. Krueger, American Author

Writing, Effort, Time, Skill

26

"I must say, when I reread myself, it's the poetry I tend to look at. It's the most exciting to write, and it's over the quickest."

"I must say, when I reread myself, it's the poetry I tend to look at. It's the most exciting to write, and it's over the quickest."

John Updike, American Novelist

Writing, Poetry, Creativity, Expression

26

"I was a sort of rock journalist - whatever that is - in London in the late '60s."

"I was a sort of rock journalist - whatever that is - in London in the late '60s."

Jonathan Demme, American Director

Writing, London

25

"Sometimes I can spend as long revising a manuscript as I spent writing it in the first place."

"Sometimes I can spend as long revising a manuscript as I spent writing it in the first place."

Margaret Haddix, American Author

25

"I had no intention of pursuing either the characters or the setting further."

"I had no intention of pursuing either the characters or the setting further."

Stephen R. Donaldson, American Writer

Writing, Intention

25

"I view myself primarily as a trial lawyer who happens to be writing, as opposed to a writer who happens to be a trial lawyer, so the audience is like a jury to me."

"I view myself primarily as a trial lawyer who happens to be writing, as opposed to a writer who happens to be a trial lawyer, so the audience is like a jury to me."

Vincent Bugliosi, American Author

Writing, Jury, Writer

25

"There is a neurologist, a woman over at Harvard who wanted me to come talk to them, and in France I have a lot of readers in the sciences. I can't tell you why."

"There is a neurologist, a woman over at Harvard who wanted me to come talk to them, and in France I have a lot of readers in the sciences. I can't tell you why."

Jim Harrison, American Writer

Writing, France, Talk, Woman

25

"Yes, I very much like to have a personal stake in what I'm writing about."

"Yes, I very much like to have a personal stake in what I'm writing about."

Michael Pollan, American Educator

25

"Everything was in stark and dreadful contrast with the trivial crises and counterfeit emotions of Hollywood, and I returned to England deeply moved and emotionally worn out."

"Everything was in stark and dreadful contrast with the trivial crises and counterfeit emotions of Hollywood, and I returned to England deeply moved and emotionally worn out."

C. S. Forester, English Novelist

Writing, Contrast, Emotions, England, Hollywood

25

"My words in her mind: cold polished stones sinking through a quagmire."

"My words in her mind: cold polished stones sinking through a quagmire."

James Joyce, Irish Novelist

25

"Writing doesn't come easily to me. It gets more and more difficult."

"Writing doesn't come easily to me. It gets more and more difficult."

Elizabeth David, British Writer

25

"But it's not just a game of finding literary references."

"But it's not just a game of finding literary references."

Dan Simmons, American Author

Writing, Literary

25

"Make (the reader) think the evil, make him think it for himself, and you are released from weak specifications. My values are positively all blanks, save so far as an excited horror, a promoted pity, a created expertness... proceed to read into them more or less fantastic figures."

"Make (the reader) think the evil, make him think it for himself, and you are released from weak specifications. My values are positively all blanks, save so far as an excited horror, a promoted pity, a created expertness... proceed to read into them more or less fantastic figures."

Henry James, American Writer

Writing, Imagination, Evil, Subtlety, Interpretation

25

"Looking back, I wince at the careless way I tossed out my opinions."

"Looking back, I wince at the careless way I tossed out my opinions."

Luke Ford, Australian Writer

Writing, Opinions

25

"It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully."

"It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully."

Aristotle, Greek Philosopher

Writing, Art, Lies, Poets

25

"I've been writing in notebooks for 40 years or so."

"I've been writing in notebooks for 40 years or so."

Frank McCourt, Irish Author

25

"As for the historical inspirations I drew on in writing The Snow Queen, I suppose I would call them more cross-cultural inspirations, though they frequently involve past societies as well as present day ones."

"As for the historical inspirations I drew on in writing The Snow Queen, I suppose I would call them more cross-cultural inspirations, though they frequently involve past societies as well as present day ones."

Joan D. Vinge, American Author

Writing, Day, Past, Present, Queen

25

"If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That's how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing."

"If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That's how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing."

Shelby Foote, American Author

Writing, Study, Want

25

"He puts his right hand lightly on the cup, I put my left, leaving the right free to transcribe, and away we go. We get, oh, 500 to 600 words an hour. Better than gasoline."

"He puts his right hand lightly on the cup, I put my left, leaving the right free to transcribe, and away we go. We get, oh, 500 to 600 words an hour. Better than gasoline."

James Merrill, American Poet

Writing, Right, Words

25

"I like to be surprised. The best writing is when it defies me, when it starts going a different way than I had planned."

"I like to be surprised. The best writing is when it defies me, when it starts going a different way than I had planned."

Wally Lamb, American Author

25

"If your life is a blank page, that only means you have room to write your story. You have the power to tell that story the way you want to."

"If your life is a blank page, that only means you have room to write your story. You have the power to tell that story the way you want to."

Thea Harrison, American Author

Writing, Creativity, Opportunity, Future

25

"Because most writers have totally unrealistic concepts of how publishing works."

"Because most writers have totally unrealistic concepts of how publishing works."

Jim Harrison, American Writer

Writing, Publishing, Writers

25

"The language fictional characters use is chosen for effect, at least if the author is concentrating."

"The language fictional characters use is chosen for effect, at least if the author is concentrating."

John M. Ford, American Writer

Writing, Effect, Language

25

"A large wildlife book, start to finish, could take one to two years, but then I would expect to get several good (nature) magazine features off the back of this, plus of course a lot of stock."

"A large wildlife book, start to finish, could take one to two years, but then I would expect to get several good (nature) magazine features off the back of this, plus of course a lot of stock."

Nigel Dennis, British Writer

Writing, Wildlife, Years

24

"We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard."

"We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard."

Voltaire, French Writer

Writing, Right, Risk, Tongue

24

"Once I start writing about something, it goes off rather fast, and sometimes details which might be interesting such as what the room looked like or what somebody said that was not exactly on the same subject tend to get lost."

"Once I start writing about something, it goes off rather fast, and sometimes details which might be interesting such as what the room looked like or what somebody said that was not exactly on the same subject tend to get lost."

Kenneth Koch, American Poet

24

"Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers as soon as his first excitement dwindles."

"Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers as soon as his first excitement dwindles."

Annie Dillard, American Author

Writing, Excitement, First, Impossibility, Writer

24

"Writing of that caliber spoils you for any other kind of writing for awhile. But that's probably good."

"Writing of that caliber spoils you for any other kind of writing for awhile. But that's probably good."

Mercedes Ruehl, American Actress

24

"People say to write about what you know. I'm here to tell you, no one wants to read that, cos you don't know anything. So write about something you don't know. And don't be scared, ever."

"People say to write about what you know. I'm here to tell you, no one wants to read that, cos you don't know anything. So write about something you don't know. And don't be scared, ever."

Toni Morrison, American Novelist

Writing, Creativity, Courage, Imagination

24

"If you can't think of what to write, tough luck; write anyway. If you can think of lots more when you've finished the three pages, don't write it; it'll be that much easier to get going next day."

"If you can't think of what to write, tough luck; write anyway. If you can think of lots more when you've finished the three pages, don't write it; it'll be that much easier to get going next day."

Philip Pullman, British Writer

Writing, Day, Luck

24

"All my stories are webs of style and none seems at first blush to contain much kinetic matter. For me style is matter."

"All my stories are webs of style and none seems at first blush to contain much kinetic matter. For me style is matter."

Vladimir Nabokov, American Novelist

Writing, Blush, First, Style

24

"The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but astonish."

"The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but astonish."

Terry Southern, American Writer

24

"There is no mistaking the dismay on the face of a writer who has just heard that his brain child is a deformed idiot."

"There is no mistaking the dismay on the face of a writer who has just heard that his brain child is a deformed idiot."

L. Sprague de Camp, American Author

Writing, Writer

24

"Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing."

"Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing."

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, American Writer

Writing, Isolation

24

"I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do---the actual act of writing---turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward."

"I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do---the actual act of writing---turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward."

Anne Lamott, American Author

Writing, Life, Passion, Learning

24

"I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it."

"I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it."

William Faulkner, American Novelist

24

"I don't want anything to do with anything mechanical between me and the paper, including a typewriter, and I don't even want a fountain pen between me and the paper."

"I don't want anything to do with anything mechanical between me and the paper, including a typewriter, and I don't even want a fountain pen between me and the paper."

Shelby Foote, American Author

Writing, Pen, Want

24

"I'm constantly revising. Once the book is written and typed, I go through the entire draft again."

"I'm constantly revising. Once the book is written and typed, I go through the entire draft again."

Chaim Potok, American Author

24

"And it is a folly to try to craft a novel for the screen, to write a novel with a screen contract in mind."

"And it is a folly to try to craft a novel for the screen, to write a novel with a screen contract in mind."

Thomas Keneally, Australian Novelist

Writing, Folly, Mind

24

"If there is a special Hell for writers it would be in the forced contemplation of their own works."

"If there is a special Hell for writers it would be in the forced contemplation of their own works."

John Dos Passos, American Novelist

Writing, Contemplation, Hell, Writers

24

"Fiction is the truth inside the lie."

"Fiction is the truth inside the lie."

Stephen King, American Author

Writing, Truth, Lie, Fiction

24

"The right to write is too sacred to be wrong with."

"The right to write is too sacred to be wrong with."

Justin K. McFarlane Beau, Canadian Poet

Writing, Truth, Expression, Creativity

24

"Somebody is observing my writings, I know that.That's one reason why I keep reading and writing."

"Somebody is observing my writings, I know that.That's one reason why I keep reading and writing."

Toba Beta, Indonesian Author

Writing, Truth, Wisdom, Inspirational, Power

24

"I used to distinguish between my fiction and nonfiction in terms of superiority or inferiority."

"I used to distinguish between my fiction and nonfiction in terms of superiority or inferiority."

Peter Matthiessen, American Writer

Writing, Inferiority, Superiority, Fiction

24

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