WRITING QUOTES XXXIII

quotations about writing

The public takes from a writer, or a writing, what it needs and lets the remainder go. But what they take is usually what they need least and what they let go is what they need most.

CHARLES BUKOWSKI

Notes of a Dirty Old Man

Tags: Charles Bukowski


You know, many writers really don't like to write. I think this the chief complaint of so many. They hate to write; they do it under the compulsion that makes any artist the victim he is, but they loathe the process of sitting down trying to turn thoughts into reasonable sentences.

HARPER LEE

interview with Roy Newquist, Counterpoints, 1964

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You want to be a writer? Good for you. So does that guy. And that girl. And him. And her. And that old dude. And that young broad. And your neighbor. And your mailman. And that Chihuahua. And that copy machine. Ahead of you is an ocean of wannabe ink slaves and word earners. I don't say this to daunt you. Or to be dismissive. But you have to differentiate yourself, and the way you do that is by doing rather than pretending.

CHUCK WENDIG

The Kick-Ass Writer

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I have no pleasure in writing myself--none, in the mere act--though all pleasure in the sense of fulfilling a duty, whence, if I have done my real best, judge how heart-breaking a matter must it be to be pronounced a poor creature by critic this and acquaintance the other.

ROBERT BROWNING

letter to Elizabeth Barrett, March 12, 1845


I write because I've always written, can't stop. I am a writing animal. The way a silk worm is a silk-producing animal.

DORIS LESSING

attributed, Shoptalk: Learning to Write with Writers

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My method is to take the utmost trouble to find the right thing to say, and then to say it with the utmost levity.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Answers to Nine Questions

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Some writers, of course, simply write, as they feel they are driven to do, by outer/inner inspirations. If, after the work is written and, hopefully, published, others respond -- that is the Champagne. But we, or some of us, don't write for the Champagne. We write because we write.

TANITH LEE

interview, Intergalactic Medicine Show

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There's no magic bullet for being a decent writer, or making people bond with your characters or fall in love with your story. Writing is a million different skills and challenges, and each story is different. But the more I struggle to make this work, the more I think there's one key thing that makes writing more excellent: Finding your own blind spots as an author, and trying to see into them.

CHARLIE JANE ANDERS

"The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do To Make Your Writing More Awesome", Gizmodo, February 25, 2016


When I write, I don't know what is going to emerge. I begin in a condition of complete unknowing, an utter nakedness of concept or goal. A word appears, another word appears, an image. It is a moving into mystery.

JANE HIRSHFIELD

The Atlantic Online, September 18, 1997

Tags: Jane Hirshfield


When you're telling a story, you've got to give details.

GAO XINGJIAN

Dialogue and Rebuttal


Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of--but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

ROBERT A. HEINLEIN

The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

Tags: Robert A. Heinlein


I've discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, "To hell with you."

SAUL BELLOW

attributed, Putting Your Passion Into Print