There are plenty of writers’ quotes out there taken from their books, but what about writers’ quotes about writing? Is that a confusing sentence? It is, isn’t it? Don’t worry about it – just move on. (Also, since writing this I’ve realised that there are actually lots of writers’ quotes about writing out there. Ah, well.)
I’ve come across some writers’ quotes about writing, and I happened to like quite a few of them, so continue reading and enjoy. You’re welcome!
Writers’ quotes
Begin at the beginning… and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
Lewis Carroll
Does this mean I’m overcomplicating it?
A whole is that which has beginning, middle, and end.
Aristotle
But does the ending end up back at the beginning, like a circle, or is it as far from the beginning as possible, like a straight line?
You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it.
Octavia E. Butler
It’s good, then you learn more and realise it’s awful. You improve it, then learn more and realise it’s still awful. Fun.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Maya Angelou
Just one of the perks of being a writer.
A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
Euripides
As if the start wasn’t already hard enough.
As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand.
Ernest Hemingway
I like this perspective. Can I do both?
I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house… The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it.
George R.R. Martin
And I’m an architect. Legally, I can’t call myself an architect because I’m not registered, but in this regard I’m definitely an architect.
He has a genius for compressing a minimum of ideas into a maximum of words.
Winston Churchill
So offensive. So good.
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.
Thomas Jefferson
Something I am still learning, and coming to really appreciate.
Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it.
William Faulkner
This is why I find fanfiction so helpful.
Caress every sentence gently and soon it will turn into a smiling expression.
Anatole France
Slightly creepy but okay, makes sense.
My task is to make you hear, to make you feel – it is, before all, to make you see.
Joseph Conrad
Love this. Absolutely agree.
I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day.
Ernest Hemingway
One of the first writing quotes I came across when learning to write. Also one of the first writing quotes I didn’t listen to. If I’m on a roll, I keep going – I don’t stop.
The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as the difference between lightning and the lightening bug.
Mark Twain
I think I see the point the quote is trying to make and I agree; the difference is both infinitely small and yet also not. But all I can think of is the difference between compliment and complement, alternate and alternative. My editing classes have both helped and hindered me.
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.
Robert Frost
Does surprising myself when I like a sentence I’ve written count?
Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
Rudyard Kipling
And they are oh so powerful.
So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say.
Virginia Woolf
I like this. I really do. Not all writing is important forever, but for at least the moment it is being written, it is.
Anyone who says writing is easy isn’t doing it right.
Amy Joy
Does that mean I’m doing it right?
Writing simply means no dependent clauses, no dangling things, no flashbacks, and keeping the subject near the predicate. We throw in as many fresh words we can get away with. Simple, short sentences don’t always work. You have to do tricks with pacing, alternate long sentences with short, to keep it vital and alive… Virtually every page is a cliffhanger – you’ve got to force them to turn it.
Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss. That guy knows what he’s doing.