Quotes About Writing

As good as' always spells mediocrity. But when a writer's work is in competition with all those thousands of other manuscripts that pour over an editor's desk, he cannot afford to be 'as good as'; he (or she) must be 'better than.

Problem, purpose, conflict, goal. Use them. Think about them while you are in the planning phase of your novel; keep these elements at the back of your mind to guide you while you write. When you have written a scene, make sure they are all there, or that if one or another is missing, it is intentional and the effect is what you want.

The Enemy, who wears her mother's usual face and confidential tone, has access; doubtless stares into her writing case and listens on the phone.

The banal advice of writ in teachers is "write what you know," but the truth is, you don't know a place until you write it. "Write what you want to know" is more like it.

The writer… begins in confusion and nothingness and writes his way into clarity.

Writing is… a descent into the self.

Writing is a deeply spiritual act that can have a profound effect upon the practitioner.

Writing is not only a reflection of what one thinks and feels but a rope one weaves with words that can lower you below or hoist you above the surface of your life, enabling you to go deeper or higher than you would otherwise go. What excites me about his metaphor is that is makes writing much more than a lifesaving venture.

There's only one good reason to be a writer-we can't help it! We'd all like to be rich, famous and successful, but if those are our goals, we're off on a wrong foot...I just wanted to earn enough money so I could work at home on my writing.

Writing of every kind is a way to wake oneself up and keep as alive as when one has just fallen in love.

I'd turned to writing because it offered few escape routes or hiding places; it's harder to lie to yourself on the page than in the world.

Provò una gioia dolcissima perché gli sembrò che quelle prime parole che aveva scritto avessero il sapore del pane e il profumo di un buon rossetto.

My best advice to writers is get yourself born in an interesting place.

I only write books about dead people. They can't sue.

ne suffit pas de constituer comme beau ce qu'exclut l'esthétique officielle, de réhabiliter les sujets modernes, bas ou médiocres ; il faut affirmer le pouvoir qui appartient à l'art de tout constituer esthétiquement par la vertu de la forme (« bien écrire le médiocre »), de tout transmuer en Å"uvre d'art par l'efficace propre de l'écriture. «

révolution du regard qui s'accomplit dans et par la révolution de l'écriture suppose et suscite à la fois une rupture du lien entre l'éthique et l'esthétique, qui va de pair avec une conversion totale du style de vie. Cette conversion, qui s'accomplit dans l'esthétisme du style de vie

Bien écrire le médiocre94 » : cette formule en forme d'oxymore concentre et condense tout son programme esthétique.

Vouloir donner à la prose le rythme du vers (en la laissant prose et très prose) et écrire la vie ordinaire comme on écrit l'histoire ou l'épopée (sans dénaturer le sujet) est peut-être une absurdité. Voilà ce que je me demande parfois. Mais c'est peut-être aussi une grande tentative et très originale

On n'écrit pas ce qu'on veut, dit Flaubert. Et c'est vrai. Maxime [Du Camp] écrit ce qu'il veut, lui, ou à peu près. Mais ce n'est pas écrire110.

If censorship reigns there cannot be sincere flattery, and only small men are afraid of small writings.

It is easy to be inspired by history when you're living in a part of it and allow that to seep into your writing: having said that, a minimalist room with no distractions is often better; the most exciting visions should already be in your head.

My home is attached to a study - in fact, my home is my study, and I have a little room to sleep in. I need to write looking onto the street or a landscape. Looking at reality from some distance gives me romantic visions.

Some travelers collect souvenirs, postcards, or bumper stickers; I bring home a pencil from the various places I visit.

I started putting down my thoughts on paper out of loneliness while I was studying in America. I was very close to my grandfather, and when he died, I couldn't visit home. I started scribbling those thoughts.