Writing quotes
Quotes that appear on Tuesdays.
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“If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.” –Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965, British playwright, novelist (Of Human Bondage) and short story writer. “It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly.” –C.J. Cherryh, a United States science fiction and
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“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.” –Billy Joel, who so far has had 33 Top 40 hits in the United States, all of which he wrote himself, is also a six-time Grammy
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“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” — Ray Bradbury, recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation. Renowned author of Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and
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“You’re only given a little spark of madness, you mustn’t lose it.” – Robin Williams, Academy Award-winning actor (Best Supporting Actor, Good Will Hunting, 1997) and multiple Grammy-winning performer Regardless what you think of Robin Williams’ body of work (I think it is mostly hilarious), it can’t be argued that he ever lost his “spark
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“Every hour you spend writing is an hour you don’t spend worrying about your writing.” –James Scott Bell, at the 2009 Christian Writers Seminar, as quoted by Beth Thompson here. Bell is the No. 1 bestselling author of Plot & Structure, and thrillers like Deceived, Try Dying, and One More Lie. Under the pen name
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“I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately, I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning.” — William Faulkner, (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer, Nobel Prize laureate, and Pulitzer Prize winning author. Such a key principle it hardly needs unpacking. Yet, finding and holding on to that kind of
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“Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” Barbara Kingsolver, an American novelist, essayist, and poet. Author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Lacuna, among others. This strikes me as truth, for writers.
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“After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” — Philip Pullman, an English writer. Author of the His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy. Pullman doesn’t share the same worldview as I do—he calls himself an “agnostic atheist”—but I do agree with him in his sentiment regarding the importance of
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“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.” ― Lloyd Alexander (January 30, 1924 – May 17, 2007), an American author of more than 40 books, mostly fantasy novels, including The Chronicles of Prydain series. He won the Newbery Medal in 1969. I’ve never understood this idea some have that
Writing On The Fine Line 