Writing Quotes · Page 485

When I read about myself and how writers have focused on negative stuff, it hurts my feelings.

— Zachary Cole Smith

Directing, writing, producing and starring is just too tough.

— Stephen Chow

The first rule for a good style is to have something to say; in fact, this in itself is almost enough.

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Our rule was that we [with Kate DiCamillo] would write everything together, literally every word.

— Alison McGhee

Writers build castles in the air, the reader lives inside, and the publisher inns the rent.

— Anonymous

I do not wear my emotions on my sleeve; I write about them.

— Brian McKnight

I cannot write long books; I leave that for those who have nothing to say.

— Celia Green

I'd rather sit down and write a letter than call someone up. I hate the telephone.

— Henry Miller

I write for young girls of color, for girls who don't even exist yet, so that there is something there for them…

— Ntozake Shange

We can only connect the dots we collect, which makes everything you write about you... your connections are the thread that you…

— Amanda Palmer

I was hooked on writing. I mean, where else can you get paid for sticking your nose into somebody else's business?

— Bette Greene

So writing became a way to get to act in things that I thought were meaningful, and hopefully write stronger roles for…

— Brit Marling

Even though I think writers can sometimes thrive from being misread. It can give them something to push off of.

— Matthew Specktor

I write about African women, that's really my topic. I have no shame or qualm in it because it's a very underrepresented…

— Danai Gurira

“We writers can use our own longing - and frequently do - without ever having to understand or analyze it. That is…

— Marion Dane Bauer

“Writing is a lonely pursuit. The only thing working is imagination and hands. The only difference between writing and masturbation is one…

— Mark Bell

“I have a pesky little critic in the back of my mind. He's a permanent fixture and passes judgment on everything I…

— Rukhsana Khan

I feel that as a writer and as a performer too. I never really thought about backstory for characters. It was much…

— Brady Corbet

“I hear echoes in your prose, echoes that run back to stuffy English drawing rooms and American universities. Is that what Canadians…

— Anonymous

The routines of almost all famous writers, from Charles Darwin to John Grisham, similarly emphasise specific starting times, or number of hours…

— Oliver Burkeman

I am fine with my books being categorized as African-American literature but I hope they are also considered Haitian-American literature and American…

— Roxane Gay

Do I start with the lyrics? No. Quite honestly, it's the opposite. I generally get the melody first - I kinda fiddle…

— Iron & Wine

“So in that sense, I and my fellow horror writers are absorbing and defusing all your fears and anxieties and insecurities and…

— Stephen King

From where I sit, battles are hard. I've written my share. Sometimes I employ the private's viewpoint, very up close and personal,…

— George R. R. Martin

Happy endings are all I can do. I wouldn't know how to write anything else.

— Julia Quinn

I have always been able to write on the spot. It is a talent that I guess comes naturally.

— Ashanti

Find the story you want to tell. If you don't want to write it, find somebody to write it.

— Annette Bening

Try to write poems at least one person in the room will hate.

— Marvin Bell

The writing process is the time where nothing's been set in stone. It's a blank slate, or a blank page.

— Leigh Whannell

Young writers should be encouraged to write, and discouraged from thinking they are writers.

— Wallace Stegner

I wanted to write and direct movies and not be forced to adapt them from a bestselling book.

— Francis Ford Coppola

“There is a heavy price to pay for writing a bad book.”

— Tony Burgess

I write a lot more when I'm happy, because you're hopeful, you're motivated.

— Andrew Bird

Jack Kerouac did what he most wanted to do. He wrote great prose. He became the writer he wanted to be.

— Joyce Johnson

I think of myself as a journalist and a storyteller.

— Soledad O'Brien

One should never use exclamation points in writing. It is like laughing at your own joke.

— Mark Twain

Regardless of the popular literary trend of the times, write the thing which lies close to your heart.

— Bess Streeter Aldrich

Here I am paying big money to you writers and what for? All you do is change the words.

— Samuel Goldwyn

From the 100 films I have done, I can easily write off about 60.

— Deepti Naval

It is for this, partly, that I write. How can I know what I think unless I see what I write.

— Erica Jong