Quotes About Writing

There were creative-writin g teachers long before there were creative-writin g courses, and they were called and continue to be called editors.

My teacher has a reading problem. He can't read my writing

It was my fifth grade teacher who introduced the idea that writing could be more than a hobby for me.

Every writing teacher gives the subliminal message, every time they teach: 'Your life counts for something.' In no other subject that I know of is that message given.

The simplest comment on my book came from my ballet teacher. She said, "I wish you hadn't made every line funny. It's so depressing."

never use sarcasm in an email

And in fact that selfsame strange urge I had when I was small - the desire to grant a second chance to something that could never have one - is still one of the urges that set me going today whenever I sit down to write a story.

Verzeih mir, guter Freund, dass ich dir einen so langen Brief schreibe, ich hab gerade nicht die Zeit für einen kurzen.

Without a wound, there is no author

You cannot write without looking behind you; like Lot's wife. And in doing so you turn yourself and them into blocks of salt.

But writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that impossible prose is a hallmark of intelligence.

Lack of clarity is a writer's truth.

That is the problem with modern ink from a bottle. You do not have to think. You simply write what is swimming on the top of your brain. And the top is nothing but pond scum, dead leaves, and mosquito spawn. But when you push an inkstick along an inkstone, you take the first step to cleansing your mind and your heart. You push and you ask yourself, What are my intentions? What is in my heart that matches my mind? I

Writing is the witness to myself about myself. Whatever others say of me or how they interpret me is a simulacrum of their own devising.

Writing is an extreme privilege but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself and it's a gift of giving a story to someone.

It's a luxury being a writer because all you ever think about is life.

The process of writing is the painful recovery of things that are lost.

I thought I was clever enough to write as well as these people and I didn't realize that there is something called originality and your own voice.

I often reread passages of Lolita for its exquisite language. To me, Lolita has no message, no purpose, other than to exist as a marvel of literary creation. It has wit, intelligence and style. It pointedly makes no attempt to serve a higher moral purpose, and previous attempts by critics to find one have proven ludicrous. The annotated edition is accompanied by a brilliant afterword by Nabokov that is a lucid reminder of the pure joy of writing, its interplay with life.

once you set up your story, you should step into it and write as if you are living in that fictional dream. The result would be a story that would make readers feel that they, too, were in a seamless story, a dream.

Why would any writer in her right mind ever consider making a movie instead? That's like going from being a monk or a nun to serving as a camp counselor for hundreds of problem children.

Writing is an extreme privilege but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself and it's a gift of giving a story to someone.

It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life. Read more at

Those are the five writing tips: Avoid clichés, avoid generalisations, find your own voice, show compassion, and ask the important questions.