Quotes About Writing

The literary world is filled with good and generous people. But then that's what writing is all about - empathy.

Very first thing in the morning, I spew some rough genius directly on to the laptop. Then I have coffee and rewrite for three hours.

The writer Richard Curtis is a genius.

I don't write to a genre.

I love the essay. It's my favorite genre to work in.

I don't really think about genre. I like to write books that I'd love to read myself.

Basically, I just write whatever story grabs me rather than considering the genre.

I think there's only one reason to write in any genre or to any particular age group: You are called to it. You think it'd be fun.

Like most writers, I read deeply into the genre in which I write.

I was a late bloomer. I was 38 when my first book was out and 43 when my first crime novel was out. I had a story that could only be told as a crime story. I think the genre is good; it deals with the fundamental questions of life and death. The problem is there are too many bad crime stories.

When I applied for grad school, I did not specify genre. I said I wanted an MFA in Creative Writing. I was so cute and stupid! The admissions committee at Pitt decided to put me in poetry.

I loved writing the Spellman novels, but I never had any plan to only write in one genre.

If you have some natural talent and really want to write, you should read the books of someone who's very successful in your genre. You don't want to plagiarize, but you want to learn from that author.

When I started writing, it felt good, and I knew I was in the right genre.

While I do, of course, now feel the pressure having had books that have been very successful, I just know I have to concentrate on writing for myself. I can't worry about genres or markets or what might be commercial or not. That never works.

If there were genders to genres, fiction would be unquestionably feminine.

I write across genres so I see them, more often, as complementary instead of separated by boundaries.

I have written in a lot of genres, that's true, and I'm not sure it's always served my career well.

I think it is best that if you are the writer you just leave the director to it. With the caveat that you state, 'Be gentle with the script. And if there are changes, consult me.'

I didn't mean to spend my life writing American history, which should have been taught in the schools, but I saw no alternative but to taking it on myself. I could think of a lot of cheerier things I'd rather be doing than analyzing George Washington and Aaron Burr. But it came to pass, that was my job, so I did it.

P.G. Wodehouse was a huge influence on me when I was younger, as were Edgar Rice Burroughs and George Bernard Shaw.

I'm continuing to write and love 'Hellblazer.' Also, I'm writing a 'Flashpoint' mini-series ' with art by George Perez - which features Shade the Changing Man and Enchantress.

I used to say when I was younger, 'I'm exhausted; writers can only write for four hours a day and that's done.' Now I find, as I'm getting older and I'm more aware of time, I can actually write all day.

In the Ghetto, I'd been trying to write for years.