“A book from a nearby shelf tumbled to the ground and the pages rustled a moment before settling. I bit my lip,… — Lani Woodland Copy Share Image
“You read a lot," said the behatted kvetch indicating the two novels he had open. He nodded, because there was no denying… — Tibor Fischer Copy Share Image
I thought, "Well, I'm writing about early childhood, so maybe it would make sense to write about late childhood as well, early… — Paul Auster Copy Share Image
“But Hadley understood. It wasn't that she was meant to read them all. Maybe someday she would, but for now, it was… — Jennifer E. Smith Copy Share Image
I much prefer working with kids whose life could be completely upended by a reading of a book over a weekend. You… — Russell Banks Copy Share Image
I started writing the book without realizing I was writing a book. That sounds stupid, but it's true. I'd been trying and… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
If you are serious, and you want to make a living as an author, then you need to hustle. Period. If you… — Larry Correia Copy Share Image
I tell people all the time, as I was going through my process of being a comedian or being an actor and… — J. B. Smoove Copy Share Image
I always tell people there's only one trick to writing: You have to write something that people are willing to pay money… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“Publishing your writing is a bewildering mix of emotions somewhere between parental angst and walking down a public beach wearing only a… — Aaron Blaylock Copy Share Image
“You might have noticed that I have been sending you used books. I have done this not to save money, but to… — Yann Martel Copy Share Image
“Writers are never fully present because they’re always imagining a different version of the way things are happening; imagining the past in… — Jessica Soffer Copy Share Image
In language at once stark and delicate, Suki Kim shatters the polemic of North and South Korea. She couples an investigative reporter's… — Monique Truong Copy Share Image
Sometimes, a novel is like a train: the first chapter is a comfortable seat in an attractive carriage, and the narrative speeds… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
I write every first draft - almost every draft, but certainly the first - by hand on blank white pieces of paper,… — Simon Kinberg Copy Share Image
“Books are supposed to give a helping hand to humanity’s progress, not to instruct humanity how to progress. Plato wrote his books… — Abhijit Naskar Copy Share Image
Sometimes writing has to be forced. In starting out, the shape and timbre and texture of what is to come is an… — Cynthia Ozick Copy Share Image
I haven't written a whole lot of nonfiction, but what I have written leads me to believe that it's an entirely different… — Ron Currie Jr Copy Share Image
Several years ago, when I was about to start a novel, I thought I might get some mileage out of the idea… — Octavia E. Butler Copy Share Image
“man who wrote it was presumably well to do,” I remarked, endeavouring to imitate my companion’s processes. “Such paper could not be… — Arthur Conan Doyle Copy Share Image
I finish the book so I can see how it's going to end. I write that first sentence, and if it's the… — Tom Robbins Copy Share Image
“John lowered the book he'd been reading. "Im sorry. Were you speaking to me?" "I know you were listening, " I said… — Meg Cabot Copy Share Image
You can put things in prose and understand them one way, and then there's understanding it by knowing how it feels. Things… — Rege-Jean Page Copy Share Image
“The artistic bend is a sell-out. It's all truth, or it's no good. EIther write what's in the heart, all of it,… — Wendy K. Williamson Copy Share Image
“My typical day began at five o'clock in the morning when I would finish reading scripts by the side of Rebecca's bed… — Dawn Steel Copy Share Image
The books one reads in childhood, and perhaps most of all the bad and good bad books, create in one's mind a… — George Orwell Copy Share Image
“As the author of Lost Wife, Saw Barracuda - True Stories from a Sharm el Sheikh Scuba Diving Instructor, I know a… — John Kean Copy Share Image
“Altogether, I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn't shake… — Franz Kafka Copy Share Image
Read as much as possible, especially the work of writers who most deeply affect you. Make those writers your family. Never wait… — Sigrid Nunez Copy Share Image
Since we must and do write each our own way, we may during actual writing get more lasting instruction not from another's… — Eudora Welty Copy Share Image
“People tell you to write what you know, but I've found that writing what you know is much harder than making it… — Jo Walton Copy Share Image
Gary Greenberg is a thoughtful comedian and a cranky philosopher and a humble pest of a reporter, equal parts Woody Allen, Kierkegaard,… — Gideon Lewis-Kraus Copy Share Image
Beware of self-indulgence. The romance surrounding the writing profession carries several myths: that one must suffer in order to be creative; that… — David Brin Copy Share Image
“A painter,” he said, as though the word were an insult. “I’m a writer .” “You’re a writer ? I’m a writer.”… — Ben Monopoli Copy Share Image
Rewriting is when writing really gets to be fun. . . . In baseball you only get three swings and you're out.… — Neil Simon Copy Share Image
“Writing a book is a tremendous experience. It pays off intellectually. It clarifies your thinking. It builds credibility. It is a living… — Seth Godin Copy Share Image
When I face the desolate impossibility of writing five hundred pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
I'm trying to read/edit my story as if I have no existing knowledge of the story, no investment in it, no sense… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I've learned how to sleep on airplanes. When I'm taking a trans-Atlantic flight or going to a different continent, I will always… — John Isner Copy Share Image
“Great speed in reading is a dubious achievement; it is of value only if what you have to read is not worth… — Mortimer J. Adler Copy Share Image