Writer Quotes · Page 241

Fiction has always been a way of examining society and its flaws and trying to expose them.

— Lisa Joy

I don't think my husband has any plans to pen his memoirs. There are enough people doing that for him.

— Jaya Bachchan

“Don't fool yourself. Talking about writing is not the same as actually doing it.”

— Christy Hall

Writing is harder than anything else; at least starting to write is.

— Kristin Hunter

If you want to write, find your splinter. Find the thing that pierces you and won't let you go.

— Megan McDonald

“Nothing makes you feel smaller than New York City...”

— Christy Hall

The idea of having to make constant reference to politics is anathema to my calling as a writer.

— Wole Soyinka

I haven't written a brochure yet. It's killing me. I know I have a brochure or pamphlet in me yet.

— Alan Zweibel

There are some books that reached through the noise of life to grab you by the collar and speak only of the…

— Jeffrey Eugenides

But the feeling I have, you know, is that I'll never come close to reading all, or even a thousandth- a billionth-…

— Dave Barry

I've read about eight or ten of the original novels, and one of them is where Maigret's in bed for the entire…

— Rowan Atkinson

Writing is done by someone. It is not, like some mythical goddess, a skill that springs forth, full grown from the genes…

— Leonard Bishop

“I like to write when I feel spiteful. It is like having a good sneeze." ( Letter to Cynthia Asquith , November 1913)”

— D.H. Lawrence

Writers' communities are very helpful to writers because it gives them a way to try out their stuff short of publication.

— Robert Munsch

“The ultimate function of literature is to appreciate the world, sometimes indignantly, sometimes sorrowfully, but best of all to praise when it…

— John Dewey

I don't think you can write from a reactive place. I think you just write the thing you want to write about,…

— Jesse Andrews

“Books," he said, "are like mushrooms. They grow when you are not looking. Books increase by rule of compound interest: one interest…

— Tom Rachman

“Twas a cold Yuletide evening, and I wandered the stacks, shelving multiple titles that the patrons brought back. We toiled overtime at…

— David Davis

I had a love affair with books, with characters and their words. Books kept me company. When the voices of the book…

— Marya Hornbacher

Persistence is worth at least as much as talent. The writing life is not a series of gentle encouragements. It's more like…

— Gardner Dozois

“Writing is a solitary job--that is, no one can help you with it, bu there's nothing lonely about it. I have always…

— Anonymous

When I get into the moment of actually feeling like I want to write, to finish something, I do what I've always…

— Ted Leo

I have found, in short, from reading my own writing, that my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory…

— Flannery O'Connor

“Books give us pleasure not because they make us comfortable, though some good ones may, but because they entertain us, they make…

— William McPherson

I had just wanted to be part of a story; I wanted to be a person who had a story to tell.

— Julie Schumacher

I like going after good material, well-written material.

— Sam Underwood

Companies that are terrifying to a writer are companies like Amazon.

— Richard Flanagan

I've just always been very interested in story above all.

— Anna Gunn

The most common misperception about me is that I write fast. I just write often. Every hour that I can.

— Joyce Carol Oates

There are books that are made for you to sit and puzzle over and spend time with.

— Uzodinma Iweala

I am not a storyteller . . . not like the others. I only have one tale to tell.

— Kate Morton

Good fiction is made of that which is real, and reality is difficult to come by.

— Ralph Ellison

When writing about transcendental issues, be transcendentally clear.

— Rene Descartes

Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity.

— William Zinsser

I just butcher a book. Everything I underline I assume is important to me.

— Gavin Newsom

A writer is an artist. They're creating things out of thin air.

— Bibi Bourelly

A good book written for children can be read by adults

— Norton Juster

Embarrassingly enough, I often can't remember how I came to write something.

— Tom Stoppard

With novels, you're representing things. You're not explaining.

— Emma Healey

We pore through libraries, dissecting the classics" Henry Sturges- vampire

— Seth Grahame-Smith