Quotes About Writing

The most I can ever do is write things down. To remember them. The details. To honor them in some way.

The French philosopher Jacques Derrida likens writing fiction to a software code that operates in the hardware of your mind. Stringing together separate macros that, combined, will create a reaction.

So this is why I write. Because most times, your life isn't funny the first time through. Most times, you can hardly stand it.

If you were my student, I'd tell you to shift as needed between the three POVs. Not constantly, but as appropriate to control authority, intimacy, and pace.

do not write to be liked. Write to be remembered.

Slang is the writer's palette of colors.

At least Anne Frank," Comrade Snarky said, "never had to tour with her book . . .

That's why I write, because life never works except in retrospect. And writing makes you look back. Because since you can't control life, at least you can control your version.

The best fiction rises – yes, like a phoenix – out of the ashes of people's sad, true disasters. We write in order to repeat the past.

So long as my checks cleared, I'd no interest in figuring down to the penny how poor I always was. For the same reason, I've put off writing a book on writing. I didn't want to be faced with how little I could offer on the subject. How stupid I remained after all this time and practice.

By writing , people present their lives as fiction and tackle their issues as a craft exercise . By redeeming their protagonist , they find their own redemption .

If you're dedicated to becoming an author, nothing I can say here will stop you. But if you're not, nothing I can say will make you one.

And another thing," he cautioned me, "don't use a lot of commas. People hate sentences with lots of commas. Keep your sentences short. Readers like short sentences.

Nada en mí es original. Soy el esfuerzo combinado de todas las personas a las que he conocido. Yo escribo y Brandy lee. La persona a la que quieres y la persona que te quiere nunca son la misma persona.

Masticando il suo tabacco, il Mezzano ha sputato sulla moquette macchiata e ha detto che questo edificio umido, queste stanze semibuie, non avevano nulla a che vedere con il ritiro per scrittori che si era immaginato: gente che scrive a mano, con lo sguardo che si perde lungo prati verdi on-dulati; scrittori che mangiano pranzi al sacco, ciascuno nel suo chalet privato. Frutteti di albicocchi e nuvole di petali bianchi sollevati dal vento. Sonnellini pomeridiani all'ombra di castagni. Croquet.

The handwriting of blood pressure.

Your characters have arms and legs and faces. Use them. Use attribution. Control the delivery of dialogue. Support it with actions, or negate it with actions.

I've known fantastic writers who never finished a project. And writers who launched incredible ideas, then never fully executed them.

So this is why I write. Because most times, your life isn't funny the first time through. Most times, you can hardly stand it. That's why I write, because life never works except in retrospect.

Qué sería de Jesús si nadie hubiera escrito los Evangelios?

Don't pretend for a moment that writing as a different person is evading reality. If anything it allows you a greater freedom to explore parts of yourself you wouldn't dare consciously examine.

Where would Jesus be if no one had written the gospels? Four minutes. I tongue the gun barrel into my cheek and say, you want to be a legend, Tyler, man, I'll make you a legend. I've been here from the beginning. I remember everything.

Question marks are shaped like hooks for a reason: they will hook the reader and drag them deeper into the story

Repeat the mantra: Writing is when I make the words. Editing is when I make them not shitty.