Quotes About Writing

I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog.

Write like you speak with the 'rhythms of human speech,' as William Zinsser said, and in as few words as possible. Use action verbs to carry water.

I love to write about the outdoors, no matter where it's located: about a place that's captured my imagination and that I wish to re-create for the reader's pleasure.

What does he do for a living? Is he retired?" "He took early retirement as a professor at the University of Barcelona after his wife died. He's writing some kind of history book." "Okaay. And is this the real deal, long term,

Every writer is first a reader, and what we read matters.

But now I believe the book had its own story, a story it was writing the whole time. We were only characters in it, with no more choice than characters in a novel.

Writing is a profession that has no real career structure and your best advice when you hit a difficulty is probably going to come from another writer one or two rungs on the career ladder ahead of you.

I realised early on that being an author is a hugely misunderstood job.

People make interesting assumptions about the profession. The writer is a mysterious figure, wandering lonely as a cloud, fired by inspiration, or perhaps a cocktail or two.

It had occurred to her many times that on board it didn't matter where you were coming from or where you were heading. Each voyage had its own charisma. Like writing a book – word by word – or crossing a country – step by step – each minute had to be lived moment by moment.

Copywriters, journalists, mainstream authors, ghostwriters, bloggers and advertising creatives have as much right to think of themselves as good writers as academics, poets, or literary novelists.

Grabbing readers by the imagination is a writer's job.

The writing talent of Edinburgh is textured - we have poets, novelists, non-fiction writers, dramatists and more.

Being able to read well in public and talk about your work in an engaging fashion is part of most writers' job specification.

You've got to make an effort to get the details right, because even through someone picks it up and knows it's a novel, they know someone's made it up and they know it's not real, if you make a small mistake they will cease to imaginatively engage with the story.

I've found myself moved by letters and diaries in archives as well as trashy, summer blockbusters. It's possible to make a connection with any kind of writing - as long as the writing is good.

It may take a village to raise a baby, but hell! it takes an army to produce a book.

Everyone assumes writers spend their time lounging around, writing and occasionally striking a pose whilst having a think.

Writers of novels live in a strange world where what's made up is as important as what's real.

For me, writing stories set, well, wherever they're best set, is a form of cultural curiosity that is uniquely Scottish - we're famous for travelling in search of adventure.

The financial value put on the job of the writer and the misconceptions around that make it extremely difficult to enter the profession.

Writing about the 1950s has given me tremendous respect for my mother's generation.

As a historical novelist, there are few jobs more retrospective.

Like good reading skills, good writing skills require immersion and imaginative engagement.