Quotes About Writing

When you write books for a living, you come to realize that while not all people who write to authors are strange, all people who are strange write to authors.

He wrote authoritatively on magnetism, tides and the motions of the planets, and fondly on the effects of opium.

Carlyle had no option but to sit down and recompose the book as best he could—a task made all the more challenging by the fact that he no longer had notes to call on, for it had been his bizarre and patently misguided practice to burn his notes as he finished each chapter, as a kind of celebration of work done.

It is mildly disconcerting to reflect that the whole of meaningful human history—the development of farming, the creation of towns, the rise of mathematics and writing and science and all the rest—has taken place within an atypical patch of fair weather.

future. As an adjective, the word is often used unnecessarily: 'He refused to say what his future plans were' (Daily Telegraph); 'The parties are prepared to say little about how they see their future prospects' (The Times). In both sentences, and nearly all others like them, future adds nothing and should be deleted.

Elizabethans were as free with their handwriting as they were with their spelling. Handbooks of handwriting suggested up to twenty different—often very different—ways of shaping particular letters.

Even his housekeeper communicated with him by letter.

He left to do whatever editors do.

Shakespeare used 17,677 words in his writings, of which at least one-tenth had never been used before. Imagine if every tenth word you wrote were original. It is a staggering display of ingenuity. But

Sabine Baring-Gould wrote the hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and, more unexpectedly, the first novel to feature a werewolf.

very should be made to pay its way in sentences. Too often it is used where it adds nothing to sense ('It was a very tragic death'), or is inserted in a futile effort to prop up a weak word that would be better replaced by something with more punch ('The play was very good').

catachresis

hanged. 'It was disclosed that a young white official had been found hanged to death in his cell …' (The New York Times). 'Hanged to death' is redundant. So too, for that matter, are 'starved to death' and 'strangled to death'. The writer was correct, however, in saying that the official had been found hanged and not hung. People are hanged; pictures and the like are hung.

second largest and other similar comparisons often lead writers astray: 'Japan is the second largest drugs market in the world after the United States' (The Times). Not quite. It is the largest drugs market in the world after the United States or it is the second largest drugs market in the world. The sentence above could be fixed by placing a comma after 'world'.

And as you are about to see, it not only produces the best science, but also some of the very best science writing.

Do you know," he said, "it's twenty years since you wrote Notes from a Small Island?" (This was my first book about Britain. It did awfully well there.) "Twenty years?" I replied, amazed at how much past one can accumulate without any effort at all.

Anyway, as should be obvious, his ability to write or not could have had absolutely no bearing on the capabilities of his children.

his facetious grace in writing," and much else.

The first two times you heard me speak, I sounded like a fool. I made about as much sense as a top hat on a mule. I wasn't sure a third attempt would do me any better, So I decided that I'd put my thoughts down in a letter.

The typewriter racket was our song of hope.

New Rule: The person who sat in my seat on the flight before me and could not finish the People magazine crossword puzzle has to be ashamed of themselves. I don't know who you are, but Desperate _____wives? Nothing? A three-letter word for Writing utensil, you're holding it in your hand. Here's one more for you: Four letters, begins with a v , something you shouldn't be allowed to do this November.

You feelin' me? Word. This is one phat book I'm writing, yo. Recognize.

The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning and inhibit clarity.

While the novelist is banging on his typewriter, the poet is watching a fly in the windowpane.