Quotes About Authorship

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

When you think about the period in which Agatha Christie's crime novels were written, they are actually quite edgy for the time.

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

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

I'm a novelist by trade and my job is to write a story rather than reconstruct actual events.

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.

As it stands there is a very strong argument that as the book trade becomes increasingly corporate it's our literary heritage that is at risk - a vital part of our culture.

I never wanted to be a literary writer. I wanted to be an entertainer. All I wanted was to give what a lot of writers had given me: a good time on a bad day.

When I finish a first draft, it's always just as much of a mess as it's always been. I still make the same mistakes every time.

I think I'm way too much of a control freak to co-author anything with anyone. I have a hard enough time writing with myself! I admire people that can do it, but it's not for me.

I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time

I generally blog between 5:30 A.M. and 7 A.M. I will from time to time add something during the day, but for the most part blogging is an early morning activity for me.

The best time to write a story is yesterday. The next best time is today.

Some authors have a very hard time understanding that in order to be faithful to the spirit of the book, it's almost always impossible to remain faithful to the text. You have to make changes.

I expect that in 40 years' time I'll be writing political tomes and working for an organisation like Oxfam.

I never knew a writer yet who took the smallest pains with his style and was at the same time readable.

I write in the mornings. During my down time.

I had a hard time publishing my books in the beginning of my career, because editors were afraid what people would think of THEM, personally, if their name was associated with me

I do want to write about Jane Whitefield again, but only when I have a good enough idea - something I've figured out about her that's news and that's worth a reader's time.

I learned that lesson a long time ago. When you write popular fiction, you're going to get bashed by critics.

Every time I write a nonfiction book I get sued.

I just write the sort of book that I would enjoy reading myself, a book that is both scholarly and recreates the experience of people at that time.

Every time I write something, I think, this is the most offensive thing I will ever write. But no. I always surprise myself.