Writing Quote by Brian Jay Jones

“Thus he always wrote using a pencil with a long, sharp but soft lead, so he couldn't here his words as they formed on…

— Jacqueline Winspear

“Whenever I write first drafts, I like to maximize the possibility of f-ups, mistakes, mis-written words, digressions, crazy changes in tone, etc. This is…

— Jeff VanderMeer

“He took a sheet of paper out of a desk drawer. But what would he write? The day’s work had hardly involved more than…

— Henning Mankell

“He who would be a writer, fine, Must take a deal of pains, Must criticize his every line, And mix his ink with brains.”

— Platt Rogers Spencer

“Writers know all the good reasons for subjecting their work to a sharp trim. Early drafts are notorious for repetition, indirection and overdevelopment of…

— Pamela Erens

“I do three drafts handwritten and then it's typed up... They are different from each other, they are hopefully improvements in the sense you're…

— Clive Barker

“First drafts don’t have to be perfect. They just have to be written.”

— Anonymous

“It was as crude as his drafts always were. But it accomplished the enormous feat of making this shapeless blob of potential material emerge…

— Christopher Isherwood

“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

“Even as he printed the words, he imagined people reading them, people moved by his loneliness and disappointment, even by his wretched spelling, the…

— Don DeLillo

“During those days, both the bed and my little rickety table were swimming in notes and scribbled-over manuscripts that I took turns working on,…

— Knut Hamsun

“I had been working hard at my book; it was one of those rare days of authorship when everything seemed to go right; the…

— Gavin Maxwell