1,024 Quotes About Writing-process

heed Hugh Blair, a very emeritus Edinburgh professor whose advice from 1783 has stood the test of more than two centuries: "Remember . . . every Audience is ready to tire; and the moment they begin to tire, all our Eloquence goes for nothing. A loose and verbose manner never fails to disgust . . . better [to say] too little, than too much.

My most important advice to writers is "butt in chair"!

I remember when it was all done in first draft telling Gene Wolfe, who is the wisest writer I know, that I thought I had now learned how to write a novel. Gene looked at me, and smiled kindly. "You never learn how to write a novel," he told me. "You only learn to write the novel you're on.

If you start to freak out at the sight of such unmapped territory (unmapped by you, at least), just remind yourself that rocks explode, Jane transmits, mountains float, and plums deify. Grammar is not just a pain in the ass; it's the pole you grab to get your thoughts up on their feet and walking.

Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as 'good' and other sorts as 'bad', is fearful behavior.

I composed balanced sentences and periodic sentences and practiced, till I was blue in the face, the English department adage, Vary your sentence structure. Amazingly enough, having a mix of long and short sentences, along with topic-body-conclusion paragraph structure, did not automatically make my prose interesting.

... [C]haracter occurs with the lightest of brushstrokes. Naturally, it can be destroyed lightly, too.

„Odată ce ai pătruns în edificiul unei cărți cu miros de mucegai și aer închis, fără nicio urmă de briză proaspătă, este bine să faci imediat cale întoarsă.

Sono stato tutta la mattina per aggiungere una virgola, e il pomeriggio l'ho tolta.