Writing Quotes | Beyond Motive 8/25

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Writing Quotes

"To write a diary every day is like returning to one's own vomit."

"To write a diary every day is like returning to one's own vomit."

Enoch Powell, British Politician

11

"I spent my first twenty years in Morocco, where I coached the national team."

"I spent my first twenty years in Morocco, where I coached the national team."

Just Fontaine, French Athlete

Writing, First, Years

11

"I would still like to have that luxury, to be able to just sit and draw for hours and hours and hours. In a way, that's what I do as a writer."

"I would still like to have that luxury, to be able to just sit and draw for hours and hours and hours. In a way, that's what I do as a writer."

Amy Tan, American Novelist

Writing, Luxury, Writer

11

"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

11

"The fiction writer is an observer, first, last, and always, but he cannot be an adequate observer unless he is free from uncertainty about what he sees. Those who have no absolute values cannot let the relative remain merely relative; they are always raising it to the level of the absolute. The Catholic fiction writer is entirely free to observe. He feels no call to take on the duties of God or to create a new universe. He feels perfectly free to look at the one we already have and to show exactly what he sees."

"The fiction writer is an observer, first, last, and always, but he cannot be an adequate observer unless he is free from uncertainty about what he sees. Those who have no absolute values cannot let the relative remain merely relative; they are always raising it to the level of the absolute. The Catholic fiction writer is entirely free to observe. He feels no call to take on the duties of God or to create a new universe. He feels perfectly free to look at the one we already have and to show exactly what he sees."

Flannery O'Connor, American Author

Writing, Observation, Wisdom, Creativity, Art

11

"You have to remember that I was a bright but simple fellow from Canada who seldom, if ever, met another writer, and then only a so-called literary type that occasionally sold a story and meanwhile worked in an office for a living."

"You have to remember that I was a bright but simple fellow from Canada who seldom, if ever, met another writer, and then only a so-called literary type that occasionally sold a story and meanwhile worked in an office for a living."

A. E. van Vogt, Canadian Author

Writing, Canada, Literary, Living, Office

11

"I don't want to say I hear voices; well, actually I do hear voices, but I don't think it's supernatural. I think it's just that when characters are given enough texture and backbone, then lo and behold, they stand on their own."

"I don't want to say I hear voices; well, actually I do hear voices, but I don't think it's supernatural. I think it's just that when characters are given enough texture and backbone, then lo and behold, they stand on their own."

Anne Tyler, American Novelist

Writing, Supernatural, Want

11

"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

11

"Vigorous writing is concise."

"Vigorous writing is concise."

William Strunk, Jr., American Writer

Writing, William Strunk

11

"I never sit down to write. When I'm moved, I do it. I just wait for it to come. You just hear it. I can't really describe writing. It's in my head."

"I never sit down to write. When I'm moved, I do it. I just wait for it to come. You just hear it. I can't really describe writing. It's in my head."

Lenny Kravitz, American Musician

11

"I've been getting into Nick Drake lately, the folk singer. Sad, gorgeous stuff."

"I've been getting into Nick Drake lately, the folk singer. Sad, gorgeous stuff."

Anthony Doerr, American Writer

11

"My writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down."

"My writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down."

Dick Schaap, American Journalist

Writing, Shakespeare

11

"Writing is pretty crummy on the nerves."

"Writing is pretty crummy on the nerves."

Paul Theroux, American Novelist

Writing, Nerves, Pretty

11

"Today I began the novel that I determined to be great."

"Today I began the novel that I determined to be great."

Zane Grey, American Author

11

"I'm more influenced by my own interests than anyone else's. Writers have to entertain themselves, or they can't entertain anyone else."

"I'm more influenced by my own interests than anyone else's. Writers have to entertain themselves, or they can't entertain anyone else."

Laurell K. Hamilton, American Writer

Writing, Writers

11

"I'm only 24 so I like to think I'm still close enough to 17 to still remember what it was like. Besides, I could just fake it and get away with it... it's not like there are any teenagers that still read comics."

"I'm only 24 so I like to think I'm still close enough to 17 to still remember what it was like. Besides, I could just fake it and get away with it... it's not like there are any teenagers that still read comics."

Robert Kirkman, American Writer

Writing, Teenagers

11

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

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

Bernard Kelvin Clive, Ghanaian Author

Writing, Impact, Purpose, Expression

11

"I set myself 600 words a day as a minimum output, regardless of the weather, my state of mind or if I'm sick or well. There must be 600 finished words-not almost right words."

"I set myself 600 words a day as a minimum output, regardless of the weather, my state of mind or if I'm sick or well. There must be 600 finished words-not almost right words."

Arthur Hailey, Canadian Novelist

Writing, Day, Mind, Right, State

11

"Writing as a woman presents enormous problems but I have attempted it several times and haven't had many complaints."

"Writing as a woman presents enormous problems but I have attempted it several times and haven't had many complaints."

Jim Harrison, American Writer

Writing, Complaints, Problems, Woman

11

"But mostly, I wrote songs and Viv wrote songs."

"But mostly, I wrote songs and Viv wrote songs."

Neil Innes, British Writer

11

"Book writing is a little different because, in my case, my editor is a year younger than me and basically has the same sensibility as me."

"Book writing is a little different because, in my case, my editor is a year younger than me and basically has the same sensibility as me."

Chuck Klosterman, American Critic

Writing, Sensibility

11

"If I'm grumpy I sure do enjoy writing The Walking Dead."

"If I'm grumpy I sure do enjoy writing The Walking Dead."

Robert Kirkman, American Writer

Writing, Walking

11

"Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light."

"Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light."

Joseph Pulitzer, American Publisher

Writing, Light, Will

11

"As a rule of thumb, four consecutive lines of dialogue is about as much as you want to have without a tag."

"As a rule of thumb, four consecutive lines of dialogue is about as much as you want to have without a tag."

Diana Gabaldon, American Author

Writing, Dialogue, Clarity, Story

11

"When I first began to write, I had been a child for most of my life, and my childhood memories were vivid and potent, and the forces that shaped me, Most of them have grown fainter with time, and whenever I write one down, I give it away: it ceases to have the shadowy life of memory and becomes fixed in letters: it ceases to be mine; it loses that mobile unreliability of the live."

"When I first began to write, I had been a child for most of my life, and my childhood memories were vivid and potent, and the forces that shaped me, Most of them have grown fainter with time, and whenever I write one down, I give it away: it ceases to have the shadowy life of memory and becomes fixed in letters: it ceases to be mine; it loses that mobile unreliability of the live."

Rebecca Solnit, American Actress

Writing, Memory, Creativity, Imagination

11

"I was burned out. I think I was just exhausted. It was a very intense five years. We didn't stop. It was constant touring, constant writing, recording."

"I was burned out. I think I was just exhausted. It was a very intense five years. We didn't stop. It was constant touring, constant writing, recording."

Roger Andrew Taylor, English Musician

11

"I didn't hang around films. I don't know if I'd ever seen Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes."

"I didn't hang around films. I don't know if I'd ever seen Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes."

Patricia Highsmith, American Novelist

11

"Both Rowling and Meyer, they're speaking directly to young people. The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."

"Both Rowling and Meyer, they're speaking directly to young people. The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."

Stephen King, American Author

Writing, Truth, Power, Wisdom

11

"The only way to write honestly about the scene is to be part of it. If there is one quick truism about psychedelic drugs, it is that anyone who tries to write about them without first-expierience is a fool and a fraud."

"The only way to write honestly about the scene is to be part of it. If there is one quick truism about psychedelic drugs, it is that anyone who tries to write about them without first-expierience is a fool and a fraud."

Hunter S. Thompson, American Journalist

Writing, Experience, Authenticity, Drugs

11

"It's not about fancy literary prizes. It's not about seeming impenetrable or smart or high fallutin. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I am trying to make you feel a story, that's all."

"It's not about fancy literary prizes. It's not about seeming impenetrable or smart or high fallutin. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I am trying to make you feel a story, that's all."

Maggie Stiefvater, American Author

Writing, Emotion, Connection, Art

11

"Writers of novels live in a strange world where what's made up is as important as what's real."

"Writers of novels live in a strange world where what's made up is as important as what's real."

Sara Sheridan, Scottish Author

Writing, World, Reality, Imagination, Importance

11

"This motion-picture muddle had distracted me from my writing."

"This motion-picture muddle had distracted me from my writing."

Zane Grey, American Author

11

"Do you drink?"Of course,I just said I was a writer."

"Do you drink?"Of course,I just said I was a writer."

Stephen King, American Author

Writing, Identity, Truth, Irony

11

"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

10

"A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into."

"A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into."

Helen Dunmore, British Poet

Writing, End, Trying

10

"I want my prose to be as clear as a pane of glass."

"I want my prose to be as clear as a pane of glass."

Tracy Kidder, American Author

Writing, Prose, Want

10

"I'm more interested in writing than in performing."

"I'm more interested in writing than in performing."

Frank McCourt, Irish Author

10

"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

10

"Novel writing wrecks homes."

"Novel writing wrecks homes."

C. S. Forester, English Novelist

10

"I am one day going to be working openly in the motion picture industry. When that day comes, I swear to you that I will never sign a term contract with any major studio."

"I am one day going to be working openly in the motion picture industry. When that day comes, I swear to you that I will never sign a term contract with any major studio."

Dalton Trumbo, American Novelist

Writing, Day, Will

10

"It's true that it's a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much companionship a group of imaginary characters can offer once you get to know them."

"It's true that it's a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much companionship a group of imaginary characters can offer once you get to know them."

Anne Tyler, American Novelist

Writing, Companionship, Occupation

10

"Writing with you is the only thing that keeps me alive."

"Writing with you is the only thing that keeps me alive."

David Hackworth, American Soldier

10

"We sometimes received - and I would read - 200 manuscripts a week. Some of them were wonderful, some were terrible; most were mediocre. It was like the gifts of the good and bad fairies."

"We sometimes received - and I would read - 200 manuscripts a week. Some of them were wonderful, some were terrible; most were mediocre. It was like the gifts of the good and bad fairies."

Marilyn Hacker, American Poet

Writing, Fairies, Gifts

10

"I spend eight months outlining and researching the novel before I begin to write a single word of the prose."

"I spend eight months outlining and researching the novel before I begin to write a single word of the prose."

Jeffery Deaver, American Writer

Writing, Months, Prose, Word

10

"That's the best thing about writing, when you're in that zone, you're porous, ready to absorb the solution."

"That's the best thing about writing, when you're in that zone, you're porous, ready to absorb the solution."

Michael Chabon, American Author

Writing, Solution, Zone

10

"Ideally, I like to integrate the human issues into the suspense story itself."

"Ideally, I like to integrate the human issues into the suspense story itself."

Jeffery Deaver, American Writer

Writing, Suspense

10

"It's just so much fun to make up characters, situations, and everything else about a story. I have so much freedom and flexibility to do whatever I want."

"It's just so much fun to make up characters, situations, and everything else about a story. I have so much freedom and flexibility to do whatever I want."

Margaret Haddix, American Author

Writing, Flexibility, Freedom, Fun, Want

10

"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

10

"I try not to observe myself in the process of composing a poem because I don't want to come up with a formula, which I would then be unscrupulous in using."

"I try not to observe myself in the process of composing a poem because I don't want to come up with a formula, which I would then be unscrupulous in using."

Thom Gunn, British Poet

Writing, Formula, Want

10

"There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily."

"There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily."

Anthony Trollope, English Author

10

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