Top Writing Craft Quotes

Authors - trust in your vision.

Open your soul and put it out there and dare the world to read it, ready to have them stomp on you and laugh, but ready to do it again the next day.

I trust my characters. They know their stories better than I do.

You write what you know, and I know rock and roll.

You cannot be a great writer in a shop where words are sold in tens and twenties.

While I'm writing, I'm far away;and when I come back, I've gone.

Words are the bones. Writing is the lungs. Reading is like breathing.

My rule is never save bits. They get the way, and you don't think of anything new. Put 'em in. Make a big mess.

You can't have good ideas unless you have lots of ideas.

For the writer, the process of writing a novel is like getting an advanced copy of a book you'd really like to read.

An idea for a story can be anything. The sky is not the limit, the limit is beyond it.

However great a man's natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once.

Pursue knowledge as though it is your life-blood, then you will know greatness!

Give the reader what they want, just not the way they expect it.

When you write, you want to get rid of the world, do you not? Of course you do. When you're writing, you're creating your own worlds.

Part of being a writer is defending your vision and not caving in to outside pressures.

Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil. J.Paul Getty

All great movies have one thing in common: every frame of every scene could stand alone as a work of art. Why should it be different in a book?

My characters still talk the way normal people talk. They argue, they are sarcastic with each other, they joke around. I usually end up with one outrageous minor character in each book that people jus...

Contrary to popular belief, people always say "It was a pleasure doing business with you". It is the only thing that has stayed with me after an assignment. Always mix business with pleasure. That is...