Top Writing Advice Quotes

Trying to write something of permanent value is a full-time job.

Talent is cheap. What matters is discipline.

If you have nothing good to say about someone, write a book about them. - Carmen Fox, Life Motto

To write, live.

...and above all, you should not think of writing as a way of earning your living. If you do, your work will smell of your poverty. It will be colored by your weakness and be as thin as your hunger. T...

Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.

Don’t wait. Writers are the only artists I know of who expect to get somewhere by waiting. Everyone knows you have to dance to be a dancer, you have to sing to be a singer, you have to act to be an ac...

Francie always remembered what that kind teacher told her. You know, Francie, a lot of people would think that these stories that you’re making up all the time were terrible lies because they are not...

So they spread the paintings on the lawn, and the boy explained each of them. This is the school, and this is the playground, and these are my friends. He stared at the paintings for a long time and t...

Don't say it was delightful; make us say delightful when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers Please wi...

I've tried to explain to people that I don't 'love' writing any more than I 'love' breathing. It's something I do and it's something I need. If I thought about it as a love/hate thing, I probably woul...

Heinlein's Rules for Writers Rule One: You Must WriteRule Two: Finish What Your StartRule Three: You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial OrderRule Four: You Must Put Your Story on the Mar...

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.

Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what's wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

Try any goddam thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it. Toss it even if you love it.

Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.

Writer's block, for me, is merely a way of saying "I'm too lazy to sit down and give it the proper time." I want to be a progressive writer, not a lazy one.

Every word born of an inner necessity - writing must never be anything else.

Act one: put your characters in a tree. Act two: throw rocks at them. Act three: get them down again.

writing - like any art - is so damned personal that there really isn't a right way to do it. You do what works for you; what matters is getting the words on the paper. Sure, if you hear advice, and it...