Writer Quotes · Page 351

I sometimes don't know what I'm writing when I start writing it, on some level.

— Josh Radnor

The act of giving voice to this spiritual suffering is, in my view, the sacred duty of the writer.

— Mo Yan

I try and write honestly about what I see around me now.

— Billy Bragg

I originally wrote 'The Martian' as a free serial novel, posting one chapter at a time to my website.

— Andy Weir

Writers who pretend that everything they're doing is completely new are full of it.

— Justin Cronin

“Libraries, museums, and schools are fragile institutions.”

— Stephen Greenblatt

I started writing seriously when I was about 12. I am always in the mood.

— Stephen King

“Fiction must stick to facts, and the truer the facts the better the fiction — so we are told.”

— Virginia Wolff

As a child, a library card takes you to exotic, faraway places. When you're grown up, a credit card does it.

— Sam Ewing

“[About John Updike's Rabbit Run] The author fails to convince us that his puppets are interesting in themselves, or that their plight…

— Chicago Tribune

I write a book over a period of months or years, and when I'm done with it, usually another year goes by…

— Margaret Haddix

I think you write only out of a great trouble. A trouble of excitement, a trouble of enlargement, a trouble of displacement…

— Eleanor Clark

The way I write is totally instinctive. I just write what I feel or what I find funny - and hope everyone…

— Sophie Kinsella

“We loved all the words in your manuscript, but we were wondering if you could maybe put them in a completely different…

— Dave Coverly

I know writers for whom the act of writing is a necessary chore. They suffer to write great work. I am very…

— Denise Duhamel

I definitely want to write some fiction, for sure. I already have half of the next book. I already have it all…

— Moshe Kasher

“If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent, whatever that is. Who am…

— Richard Rhodes

Some writers research in order to write. I write in order to research topics that interest me. Especially if I can meet…

— Chuck Palahniuk

If I didn't write in my journal every couple of days, I felt like I was going to burst. Later I learned…

— Sheryl Sandberg

An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is…

— George Orwell

Are my characters copies of people in real life? ... Don't ever believe the stories about authors putting people into novels. That…

— Ayn Rand

I don't think people are averse to thinking about things in a deep way, but we have limited time and opportunity to…

— Malcolm Gladwell

Slamming the book shut produces a wind on the face, a weather that is copyrighted by the author, and this wind may…

— Ben Marcus

I outline in some detail, but even after the outline is done I often get a new idea that is an improvement,…

— Jeff Abbott

I really enjoy writing novels. Its like the ocean. You can just build a boat and take off.

— Denis Johnson

A writer is basically someone who shares his or her value or vision of the world.

— Paulo Coelho

I really care about my readers. I care about anyone who reads my books.

— Jan Karon

Reading to kids is to ordinary reading what jazz is to a string quartet.

— Sean Wilentz

“I just love the smell of an old book store and the feel of the crisp pages along my fingertips.”

— Leah Spiegel

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.

— Barbara Tuchman

You can buy [John McCain's] book, but in a week and a half, he'll have another.

— Jon Stewart

No one knows how to write a novel until it's been written

— Alice Hoffman

“It ain't just about writing on some documents, author writes on to the readers' heart and mind.”

— Toba Beta

When I want to read something nice, I sit down and write it myself.

— Mark Twain

What is either a picture or a novel that is not character?

— Henry James

“Writing is my life,a God given gift; no one on this planet can separate me from it.”

— Euginia Herlihy

I write books to relieve myself of pain. That's the prime motivator to write. Period.

— Bret Easton Ellis

I always felt, if I can get to a library, I'll be OK.

— Maya Angelou

“The books I like...contain things to ponder, ignore, memorize, and laugh and wonder at.”

— Seymour Chwast

Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious.

— Anonymous