Top Writing Process Quotes

Writing is the thing that props me up.

I do not plan my fiction any more than I normally plan woodland walks; I follow the path that seems most promising at any given point, not some itinerary decided before entry.

Don't let others define your dreams.

Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.

There's no rule for better writing. Make your own rules, and see what works best for you.

Sometimes in fiction you had to mute reality in order to make it seem more believable.

At it's best,the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace. It is handed to you, but only if you look for it. You search, you break your heart, your back, your brain, and then - and only the...

On the worst day of writing, the work is instructive. On the best day, the act is transcendent.

It’s such a confidence trick, writing a novel. The main person you have to trick into confidence is yourself. This is hard to do alone.

Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurologists. It is not the business of novelists. A novelist’s business is lying. The weather bureau will tell you what next Tuesday will be...

When writers stop believing in their own stories, readers tend to sense it.

If writing didn't require thinking then we'd all be doing it.

The time to being writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say.

We humans are the only creatures on the planet capable of articulating worlds which are contrary, even in the most minor way, to reality. Every story, I think, begins there. With a dream. A fantasy.

He could not put down a word without suspecting that it might be the wrong one and that if he held back for another day the intermediate experience would provide the right one. There was no end to tha...

It was a dark and stormy night. . .perfect for staying indoors and writing a novel!

When you know what you want to communicate, ask yourself: Who is my audience and what does he know about the subject?

I have learned how I work best, and that is something that, if you're going to be a professional writer, you should be noticing: under what circumstances you work at your best, and to not get yourself...

There are students that are scattered, who need to see something through to the finish, but I would say there are possibly more who do not entertain the leaps of the mind that need to be nurtured, and...

What one gains in technique can lead to deforestation in the writing that is both good and bad. Keep the energy and the willingness to proceed stupidly.