“Being a writer is all about having something to say. And it’d better be interesting. If you don’t have anything interesting to… — Candace Bushnell Copy Share Image
I always individuate myself from other writers who say they would die if they couldn't write. For me, I'd die if I… — Junot Diaz Copy Share Image
The writer labors in isolation, yet all that intensive, lonely work is in the service of communicating, is an attempt to reach… — Betsy Lerner Copy Share Image
The thing is, I've always written things not knowing if it was ever going to get put on stage, and it would… — Celine Song Copy Share Image
Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page a… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
When you're a writer, if you're very lucky, you create these characters that you fall in love with, and you feel like… — Janet Varney Copy Share Image
“To write an excellent novel, make the outcome of the story matter to the reader through the evolving relationships between well-designed characters.” — Martin Sandforth Copy Share Image
I'm a writer first and a singer second. And then I started editing my own videos when I was 17, so it's… — Lana Del Rey Copy Share Image
I started writing while I was a little boy. Maybe it's because I was reading a lot of books I admired, and… — Naguib Mahfouz Copy Share Image
“Writing. It’s easy work. The equipment isn’t expensive, and you can pursue this occupation anywhere. You make your own hours, mess around… — Denis Johnson Copy Share Image
One great aim of revision is to cut out. In the exuberance of composition it is natural to throw in - as… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
The inspiration for my novels comes from the depths of a creative well, based on asking myself questions over and over. I… — Nicholas Sparks Copy Share Image
Looking back at my younger self, that I'm not so different than I am now. I was always a seeker. I wanted… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“For heaven’s sake, don’t turn reading into the intellectual equivalent of eating organic greens, or (shifting the metaphor slightly) some fearfully disciplined… — Alan Jacobs Copy Share Image
I very much love a physical book myself. I think people who have had this experience of also seeing a book come… — Edwidge Danticat Copy Share Image
“If you’re working with a writer, chances are you’re an expert. And if you’re an expert, chances are you’re boring. You can’t… — David Litt Copy Share Image
There's no greater bliss in life than when the plumber eventually comes to unblock your drains. No writer can give that sort… — Victoria Glendinning Copy Share Image
When I got older I decided I wanted to be a real writer. I tried to write about real things. I wanted… — Nicole Krauss Copy Share Image
“Lily told her about what had happened so far. (If you're interested, you can go back to the beginning of the book… — M.T. Anderson Copy Share Image
Of course I consider myself a Jewish writer - I am one! All of the protagonists in my five books have been… — Lauren Weisberger Copy Share Image
I like revising much, much better than getting down a first draft. The first draft is just getting the pieces to the… — Judy Blume Copy Share Image
Give the child good books, then let it alone! Don't plough and harrow its brain, or stretch it on Procrustes-beds of standardization,… — Laura E. Richards Copy Share Image
“Writers say two things that strike me as nonsense. One is that you must follow an absolute schedule everyday. If you're not… — Edmund White Copy Share Image
But it isn’t a rough draft either. The one I turned in several months ago was rough. There were some bad plot… — Patrick Rothfuss Copy Share Image
“Talk away. If you bore us, we have books." With this invitation Rickie began to relate his history. The reader who has… — E.M. Forster Copy Share Image
Writing well is at one and the same time good thinking, good feeling, and good expression; it is having wit, soul, and… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
“I liked being with the books: they reminded me of how many ways of thinking existed outside my own - how small… — Joanna Rossiter Copy Share Image
The only reason to buy a paper book any longer is to own it and cherish it and remember it and tell… — Seth Godin Copy Share Image
That is what literature offers—a language powerful enough to say how it is. It isn't a hiding place. It is a finding… — Jeanette Winterson Copy Share Image
We do seem, as a culture, to fetishize the "sweep." But I know there's room for "big" short, fierce novels, and "big"… — Meg Wolitzer Copy Share Image
With luck, a writer capable of producing both Slouching Towards Kalamazoo and The Blood of the Lamb will not remain unappreciated for… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share Image
Writing is work, but it's also a compulsion, and once you get your characters on paper, you can't abandon them. You have… — Rosamunde Pilcher Copy Share Image
“70 out of 100 people in the world cannot read... if you can read then you are the luckiest out of 2… — Call Bain Copy Share Image
Nowadays, I know the true reason I read is to feel less alone, to make a connection with a consciousness other than… — Zadie Smith Copy Share Image
“Is that so? Trauma in Hampstead? Let me guess, catastrophic hernias from making a mistake picking up a sack of money, reaching… — Alen Mattich Copy Share Image
The best I can say is that it's better for me to write about despair and darkness than to be incapable of… — Paul Westerberg Copy Share Image
You can travel through literature, and you can expand your mind through literature. It's so cheap to buy that kind of ticket. — Saul Williams Copy Share Image
When you write for kids, people always ask you what lesson you mean to impart. I don't think adult writers get that… — Kate DiCamillo Copy Share Image
When I think about it, I'm happily bewildered that people will preorder my books They'll preorder me. What a lucky guy! — David Mitchell Copy Share Image
“My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the needs of an immediate public, but was done to last… — Thucydides Copy Share Image
