Why does one always ask a writer why they stopped? I am…

One of the big breakthroughs I had as a writer was when I stopped agonising over every word.

— Alastair Reynolds

“Never ask a writer what they are writing while they are writing, unless you’re prepared for sharp teeth, fangs and blood on your lap.”

— Melody Lee

Ask a writer what he thinks about critics and the answer you get is similar to what you get when you ask a lamppost…

— Bert Sugar

It seems disingenuous to ask a writer why she, or he, is writing about a violent subject when the world and history are filled…

— Joyce Carol Oates

Someday, as an exercise, you might ask a writer to give himself the questions he wants to answer. If you really want a writer's…

— John Fante

Don’t ask a writer what he’s working on. It’s like asking someone with cancer on the progress of his disease.

— Amy Lowell

The question to ask about the writer isn't 'Why does he behave so badly?' but 'What does he gain by wearing this mask?

— Philip Roth

You don’t ask a writer what typewriter he uses.

— Man Ray

To this day, if you ask me how I became a writer, I cannot give you an answer. To this day, if you ask…

— V. S. Naipaul

I do triage on everything that comes through the door, and if it's not something we need (now, for real-not maybe someday) or something…

— Michelle Herman

You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send…

— Isaac Asimov

I sometimes try a variance of the drawer trick - [I write it] and then come back to it and see if it blows.

— Travis Morrison

Uh... ," Ivy stammered, and I glanced up to see her eyes wide in consideration. "I'm kidding," I said. "It passed the lethal-amulet test,…

— Kim Harrison

Compliments of congratulation are always kindly taken, and cost nothing but pen, ink and paper. I consider them as draughts upon good breeding, where…

— Lord Chesterfield

Wow," Liv said, when I dropped the mallet back into the drawer. "That looked like fun. I call dibs on the next over-the-top destruction…

— Rachel Vincent