Quotes About Writing

What I love about research is when I'm having a bad day and I can't write, I'll just research some more, I'll learn some more and I'll have better command of the world of the film.

I never think that anything I'm writing is bluntly political in any way. I'm not going for commentary.

I'm not writing great literature. I'm writing commercial fiction for people to enjoy the stories and to like the characters.

I was never writing for commercial success. It's nice that it has come, but it is not important.

I used to want to write commercials as a kid.

I don't understand people who write blogs and have children. You can't stop in the middle of bathtime and say: 'I'm just going to write a load of words - for free.' I won't do it - unless someone wants to commission me.

I had it in my head when I was in college that I wanted to be a writer, but it took me a long time to commit to being a writer. Up until then, I had worked one dead-end job after another while writing on the side.

All I try to do is to write music that feels meaningful to me, that has commitment and passion behind it.

Once I began college, I was committed to writing, which I think is different from saying I wanted to become a writer. I knew I would always write; I just wasn't always sure how I would go about doing so.

We write stories about common people and common things. That's what Skynyrd always is about - the real working class of America.

I love essays, but they're not always the best way to communicate to a larger audience.

When you have another actor as your boss, they understand how to communicate easier sometimes than just a writer.

The point of college is more to acquire skills than to acquire domain knowledge. One of the skills that is going to be most necessary: you have to be able to read with rigor and write with clarity. You have to be able to communicate. To make an argument, whether it's in a written piece or in front of a group of people.

I always encourage people in the early parts of their career to focus on writing. If you can communicate clearly, if you can articulate a thought, if you can write a great story, then you're going to be successful.

Something people say about acting is that acting is listening. But I think that writing is listening, too. That you really have to listen to what are they saying and what they're communicating to you. And so, a lot of it is just getting stuff down.

I was always writing. I've always been attracted to words and stories, communication.

I'd rather do community service than sit and write a load of Christmas cards.

I want to have compassion for my characters - I feel like I am the characters when I'm writing them.

You have to have empathy, knowledge and compassion for your characters if you're a writer.

If people would write exactly what I wanted to read I wouldn't feel so compelled to write myself.

If you can't figure out how to make the beginning of your book compelling, you're probably not writing a compelling book.

I don't really think in terms of making something that is going to be bought everywhere, because I don't read those things. My writing is a process in which I try my best to make good sentences and a sequence of events that is compelling and believable.

The question of likability is a bit of a puzzler for me. You know, I don't write people with likability in mind. It's more whether or not I find them compelling.

There is no money in the world that would compensate me for writing a lousy book.