--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Do the books that writers don't write…" description: "\"“Do the books that writers don't write matter? It's easy to forget them, to assume that the apocryphal bibliography must contain nothing but bad ideas,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aea/julian-barnes-522_bad-idea_do-the-books-that-writers-don-t-write-ma_553536.jpg" --- # Do the books that writers don't write matter? It's easy to… ![“Do the books that writers don't write matter? It's easy to forget them, to assume that the apocryphal bibliography must contain nothing but bad ideas, justly abandoned projects, embarrassing first thoughts. It needn't be so: first thoughts are often best, cheeringly rehabilitated by third thoughts…” quote by Julian Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aea/julian-barnes-522_bad-idea_do-the-books-that-writers-don-t-write-ma_553536.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aea/julian-barnes-522_bad-idea_do-the-books-that-writers-don-t-write-ma_553536.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aea/julian-barnes-522_bad-idea_do-the-books-that-writers-don-t-write-ma_553536.jpg) > ““Do the books that writers don't write matter? It's easy to forget them, to assume that the apocryphal bibliography must contain nothing but bad ideas, justly abandoned projects, embarrassing first thoughts. It needn't be so: first thoughts are often best, cheeringly rehabilitated by third thoughts after they've been loured at by seconds. Besides, an idea isn't always abandoned because it fails some quality control test. The imagination doesn't crop annually like a reliable fruit tree. The writer has to gather whatever's there: sometimes too much, sometimes too little, sometimes nothing at all. And in the years of glut there is always a slatted wooden tray in some cool, dark attic, which the writer nervously visits from time to time”” [Julian Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-barnes/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Unwritten or abandoned works may hold valuable early ideas that later revisions can improve. **In simple terms:** Early drafts can be valuable despite being discarded. Key Takeaway Revisit and refine old ideas. Themes creativity writing revision ideas Mood inquisitive analytical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - authoring - research - product development Key Concepts drafting abandonment creative process iteration Questions to Reflect On - What old ideas could you revive? - How do you decide when to discard a draft? A Different Perspective Ideas may be incomplete or flawed initially. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bad idea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-idea/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Quality control](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quality-control/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writers/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“The imagination doesn’t crop annually like a reliable fruit tree. The writer has to gather whatever’s there: sometimes too much, sometimes too little, sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-barnes/the-imagination-doesn-t-crop-annually-like-a-reliable-fruit-tree-the/) [Julian Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-barnes/) > [It was really written as most, I think, books are by writers - for themselves. There was something that just had to be written,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norton-juster/it-was-really-written-as-most-i-think-books-are-by-writers-for/) [Norton Juster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norton-juster/) > [Fahrenheit 451 is one of those books that is about how amazing books are and how amazing the people who write books are. Writers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-lieb/fahrenheit-451-is-one-of-those-books-that-is-about-how-amazing-books/) [Josh Lieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-lieb/) > [What makes books - and with them writers - so dangerous that church and state, politburos and the mass media feel the need to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/what-makes-books-and-with-them-writers-so-dangerous-that-church-and/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [The illustrators work so much harder on the books than the writers do. I mean, that's so much work doing what they do, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ian-black/the-illustrators-work-so-much-harder-on-the-books-than-the-writers-do/) [Michael Ian Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ian-black/) > [Not that the writers weren't good. I believe in those books and those writers very much. It's just that in the climate it's really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-rollins/not-that-the-writers-weren-t-good-i-believe-in-those-books-and-those/) [Henry Rollins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-rollins/) > [I know that some books and some writers, you can pretty much draw a square around it and say, 'Nobody under 40,' or 'Nobody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/i-know-that-some-books-and-some-writers-you-can-pretty-much-draw-a/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [When you live in a world of imagination, your imagination doesn't necessarily grow old with you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-bricusse/when-you-live-in-a-world-of-imagination-your-imagination-doesn-t/) [Leslie Bricusse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-bricusse/) > [My imagination doesn't require anything more of the book than to provide a framework within which it can wander.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alphonse-daudet/my-imagination-doesn-t-require-anything-more-of-the-book-than-to/) [Alphonse Daudet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alphonse-daudet/) > [“One of the many things I have always loved about writing, not to be confused with publishing, is that all you need is your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/one-of-the-many-things-i-have-always-loved-about-writing-not-to-be/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [When I was a kid, I used to escape from my family with my imagination, and I kept this spirit into my adult life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-pierre-jeunet/when-i-was-a-kid-i-used-to-escape-from-my-family-with-my-imagination/) [Jean-Pierre Jeunet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-pierre-jeunet/) > [Imagination doesn’t just mean making things up. It means thinking things through, solving them, or hoping to do so, and being just distant enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-wynne-jones/imagination-doesn-t-just-mean-making-things-up-it-means-thinking/) [Diana Wynne Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-wynne-jones/) > [Life is a tragic game, filled with misery. Yet we never persist to change, but we never change ourselves. The thing sad, is we've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/life-is-a-tragic-game-filled-with-misery-yet-we-never-persist-to/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) > [Imagination doesn't always make you long for what you cannot have, but rather thrive in what you do not have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/imagination-doesn-t-always-make-you-long-for-what-you-cannot-have-but/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [“Imagination doesn't always mean looking outside of the box, but taking a closed box and seeing a different world from within it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-suggs/imagination-doesn-t-always-mean-looking-outside-of-the-box-but-taking/) [Lionel Suggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-suggs/) ## More by Julian Barnes > [“You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed. 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