“Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.” —Ray Bradbury, WD Do you have a favorite quotation or saying about the writing process?
29 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Your Favorite Inspirational Quote About Writing?”
In the end you’re dead, but just then there’s muffins. So yeah…keep going, what?
“…there’s a hormone secreted into the bloodstream of most writers that makes them hate their own work while they are doing it, or immediately after. This, coupled with the chorus of critical reaction from those privileged to take a first look, is almost enough to discourage further work entirely.” –Francis Ford Coppola
“If you want to write fiction, the best thing you can do is take two aspirins, lie down in a dark room, and wait for the feeling to pass. If it persists, you probably ought to write a novel.” — Lawrence Block.
“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
My favorite.
“Do it for joy and you can do it forever.” — Stephen King
If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor. – Edgar Rice Burroughs
“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.” ― Stephen King
What’s another word for “thesaurus”?
lexicon?
Unless your can’t recall the word you need, it’s hovering there somewhere in your brain but not floating to the surface, so you look up related words until, if you’re lucky, you stumble across the word you had in mind. This usage may only apply to people old-brain syndrome!
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
Advice from a dearly departed friend upon my abandoning the polyphonic, multi-timbral joys of composing music for writing: “Writing is just one word after another.” Duh. But it’s taken me a long time for me to take it.
“I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.” James A. Michener
One of my old technical writing partner’s favorite line was, “If they don’t like it, tell them to write it themselves.” –Ron Faronovitch
On characters:
People are fascinating. Some have the depth of an ocean, some are no deeper than a puddle. Some are Rubik’s Cubes, some are about as complex as a paperclip.
— Stephen Ross
First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him! – Ray Bradbury
“You must write faster than your doubts.”
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down to a typewriter and bleed. – Hemingway.
Anna, sorry I have to do this, but it’s a particular bugaboo with me. Hemingway never said this. It was made up for a TV movie about him, because the writers thought it sounded macho and Hemingway-esque.
Sportswriter Red Smith said something similar. In the introduction to a collection of his great works, he recalled telling his daughter’s college roommate that writing was easy. “You just sit down at the typewriter and stare at it until drops of blood appear on your forehead.”
My bad. That was Gene Fowler. But Red Smith was great, wasn’t he?
I try to leave out the parts that people skip.
~Elmore Leonard
“Throw a lot of spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks.” This advice was given to me by author and critique partner Marilyn Campbell. Her mentoring helped me sell my first book.
(I think I’ve got this right) Isaac Asimov was once asked what he would do if he only had 6 months to live? He responded: “Write faster.”
This one comes from John Gilstrap: When failure is not an option, success is guaranteed.
“People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn’t like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that’s all there is to it.” Harlan Ellison
I don’t know who said it, but… Writing is applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair…
Forget who said, “The hardest part about being a writer is convincing your wife you’re working when you’re staring out the window.”
In the end you’re dead, but just then there’s muffins. So yeah…keep going, what?
“…there’s a hormone secreted into the bloodstream of most writers that makes them hate their own work while they are doing it, or immediately after. This, coupled with the chorus of critical reaction from those privileged to take a first look, is almost enough to discourage further work entirely.” –Francis Ford Coppola
“If you want to write fiction, the best thing you can do is take two aspirins, lie down in a dark room, and wait for the feeling to pass. If it persists, you probably ought to write a novel.” — Lawrence Block.
“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
My favorite.
“Do it for joy and you can do it forever.” — Stephen King
If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.
– Edgar Rice Burroughs
“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.” ― Stephen King
What’s another word for “thesaurus”?
lexicon?
Unless your can’t recall the word you need, it’s hovering there somewhere in your brain but not floating to the surface, so you look up related words until, if you’re lucky, you stumble across the word you had in mind. This usage may only apply to people old-brain syndrome!
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
Advice from a dearly departed friend upon my abandoning the polyphonic, multi-timbral joys of composing music for writing: “Writing is just one word after another.” Duh. But it’s taken me a long time for me to take it.
“I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.” James A. Michener
One of my old technical writing partner’s favorite line was, “If they don’t like it, tell them to write it themselves.” –Ron Faronovitch
On characters:
People are fascinating. Some have the depth of an ocean, some are no deeper than a puddle. Some are Rubik’s Cubes, some are about as complex as a paperclip.
— Stephen Ross
First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!
– Ray Bradbury
“You must write faster than your doubts.”
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down to a typewriter and bleed. – Hemingway.
Anna, sorry I have to do this, but it’s a particular bugaboo with me. Hemingway never said this. It was made up for a TV movie about him, because the writers thought it sounded macho and Hemingway-esque.
Please see a previous post of mine.
Sportswriter Red Smith said something similar. In the introduction to a collection of his great works, he recalled telling his daughter’s college roommate that writing was easy. “You just sit down at the typewriter and stare at it until drops of blood appear on your forehead.”
My bad. That was Gene Fowler. But Red Smith was great, wasn’t he?
I try to leave out the parts that people skip.
~Elmore Leonard
“Throw a lot of spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks.” This advice was given to me by author and critique partner Marilyn Campbell. Her mentoring helped me sell my first book.
(I think I’ve got this right)
Isaac Asimov was once asked what he would do if he only had 6 months to live?
He responded: “Write faster.”
This one comes from John Gilstrap: When failure is not an option, success is guaranteed.
“People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn’t like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that’s all there is to it.” Harlan Ellison
I don’t know who said it, but… Writing is applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair…
Forget who said, “The hardest part about being a writer is convincing your wife you’re working when you’re staring out the window.”