652 Quotes by Erica Jong

Plot is just a fancy way of saying 'and then.

I am not quite sure how writing changes things, but I know that it does. It is indirect-like the trails of earthworms aerating the earth. It is not always deliberate-like the tails of glowing dust dragged by comets.

Women tend to be preservers of the social structure, of marriage. They don't want to upset their husbands or their significant others. They don't want to hurt people.

Writers are doubters, compulsives, self-flagellants. The torture only stops for brief moments.

The camera creates a magical transformation. It's not enough to exist; we must chronicle that existence. ... Narrative- and image-making creatures like humans don't feel any experience is complete unless it's recorded.

You should write first drafts as if they will never be shown to anyone.

I don't cook. My mother didn't cook. My daughter doesn't cook.

Nothing you write is ever lost to you. At some other level your mind is working on it.

Memory is the most transient of all possessions. And when it goes, it leaves as few traces as stars that have disappeared.