Anything Quote by Pat Barker

I write to find out what the story means to me, that is what I try to do especially with the first draft.

— Wally Lamb

I generally write a first draft that's pretty lean. Just get the story down.

— Nora Roberts

First drafts are for learning what your story is about.

— Bernard Malamud

Writing the first draft of a new story is incredibly difficult for me. I will happily do revisions, because once I can see the…

— Marie Lu

I start with an idea that is no more than a paragraph long, and expand it slowly into an outline. But I'm always surprised…

— Barry Schwartz

“*The story,* I like to say and remember, *is always smarter than you* - there will be patterns of theme, image,e and idea that…

— Tin House Books

The story, I like to say and remember, is always smarter than you—there will be patterns of theme, image, and idea that are much…

— Lucy Corin

Writing is so hard.... The first draft writing is so hard that sometimes in the beginning, before the work itself takes over, carrying you…

— Sophy Burnham

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. What I’ve learned to…

— Anne Lamott

The benefit of this kind of outlining is that you discover a story's flaws before you invest a lot of time writing the first…

— George Stephen

I write almost purely by instinct. I've never made an outline.

— Steve Erickson

Often as a writer, you get your first draft out, and then you look and think, 'Now, what have I got here.' You're really…

— Chris Chibnall