Books Quote by Robert Boswell

Only in very rare circumstances will you see something cut out of my first drafts. Maybe it's because of the way I write. I'm…

— R. A. Salvatore

So much of writing is about what characters don't say, and in the early drafts, sometimes things get overwritten.

— Peter Hedges

Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify scenes. To fall in love with the first draft to the…

— Richard North Patterson

Writers get embarrassed sometimes in talking about how much fun writing can be, but drafting is often really enjoyable. Often, you're tumbling in the…

— Karen Russell

I think a lot of the dull parts of first drafts come from a kind of over-managing, intrusive writer who wants to direct traffic.…

— Meg Wolitzer

I think people feel for a long time that they ought to know how to write a novel in two drafts.

— Alice Mattison

I always write too long in the beginning, then it is a matter of going through it over and over again on subsequent drafts,…

— Chevy Stevens

After finishing a draft, no matter how rough, I almost always put it aside for a while. It doesn't matter if it's a story…

— Leslie Jamison

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 write by hand in my notebooks and number the drafts, so I know how crazy I can get with this. Some writers, like…

— Peter Orner

Some stories or passages are more difficult and demand more fussing with than others, but, in general, I'm a two-draft writer rather than a…

— John Updike

Novel writing, like so many things in life, is an iterative process. You come at it again and again, working at it like you…

— Kameron Hurley