Top On Writing Quotes

Never put off writing until you are better at it.

It's not what you lift, it's where you carry it.

A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.

I write because I am a writer, not because I want to get anything out of it.

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

Write what should not be forgotten.

I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.

Give me just enough information so that I can lie convincingly.

Only amateurs say that they write for their own amusement. Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth. Writing may be inter...

When someone is mean to me, I just make them a victim in my next book.

Any writer who puts his words and thoughts out into the public is going to be criticized.

There are books full of great writing that don't have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story... don't be like the book-snobs who won't do that. Read sometimes for the words--the language. Don...

I write fiction. It may have mystery, it may have horror, it may have fantasy, it may have love, but like life, it's all the same genre.

Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.

Writing is about truth, whether it be fiction or a school essay. Don't give in and 'fake it till you make it.' Criticize what upsets you.

I'm not much of a believer in the so-called character study; I think that in the end, the story should always be the boss.

You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.

The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everythi...

Evan Connell said once that he knew he was finished with a short story when he found himself going through it and taking out commas and then going through the story again and putting the commas back i...

For the next fortnight Anne writhed or reveled, according to the mood, in her literary pursuits. Now she would be jubilant over a brilliant idea, now despairing because some contrary character would n...