Book Quote by Lynne Rae Perkins

I always wanted to write novels, even before I had read a lot of novels or had a very good idea of what they…

— Elif Batuman

I was a lot dumber when I was writing the novel. I felt like worse of a writer because I wrote many of the…

— Miranda July

I'm trying to break myself of that habit [of not writing out a first draft ] because I'm working on a couple novels and…

— Donald Ray Pollock

I've been writing as long as I've been able to form words. I never wrote with an idea of publishing anything until I began…

— Harper Lee

I write a ridiculous number of drafts. The characters change and grow through the drafting, and my understanding of them deepens. Creating characters in…

— Robert Boswell

I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.

— Toni Morrison

If somebody asked for the first draft of something I'd written, it'd probably be pretty close to whatever got published. I get enjoyment out…

— Chuck Klosterman

Maybe other writers have perfect first drafts, but I am not one of them. I always try to get the book as tight as…

— Sarah Dessen

I wrote the first draft of the New People quickly but it had been percolating a lot longer. It's a hard question to answer…

— Danzy Senna

Every time I start on a new book, I am a beginner again. I doubt myself, I grow discouraged, all the work accomplished in…

— Simone de Beauvoir

When I have a first draft, I have a floor under my feet that I can walk on. Then, especially with the help of…

— Philip Roth

Initially I only decided to try and write a novel because I wasn't getting enough screenwriting work. It wasn't a long-held ambition, and certainly…

— Stef Penney