“I was a nerdy kid and I was writing and showing other fellows who are still my friends what I was writing. We were sharing that and kept sharing it. The experiences they had were so different than mine.” WritingStillsDifferentKidsMinesMy FriendsFellowsNerdy Author:Alejandro Zambra
“It really was something, to see Ram Bahadur Bomjon, apparently living without food or water. Before I went on that trip I'd asked advice on it from a very wise person who I love and revere - basically trying to see if I was somehow disrespecting Buddhism by trying to write about it, and also looking for some grounding on what stance to take ... and my friend said, "Well, why don't you just go and see?" And I hear that in my head all the time now: "Why don't you go and see?"” IfsWritingTryingWellsPersonsSaidWaterWiseAdviceBuddhismMy FriendsStanceGroundingVery WiseRamsWise Person Author:George Saunders
“Writing relies on very few things, my friend. All you need to write is your brain, a way to convey the story into existence (pen, computer, whatever), and a place in which to do it (office, kitchen table, lunar brothel).” WayNeedsWritingStoriesExistenceBrainOfficeComputerMy FriendsTablesRelyKitchenPensKitchen TableBrothels Author:Chuck Wendig
“I barely have time to watch stuff that I'm in, or my friends' stuff. The bar for writing has really elevated and it's really exciting, it's not just parts for 25-year-olds.” WritingYearsStuffWatchesMy FriendsExcitingBars Author:Molly Shannon
“When I was in the sixth grade my friend and I always won writing contests, and we read a lot of books. We were always the ones that read the most books in class. I thought about writing but visual arts weren't part of my vocabulary.” WritingArtBookClassMy FriendsVisualsGradesContestsVocabularyVisual ArtSixth Grade Author:Chath Piersath
“So when I write characters and situations and relationships, I try to sort of utilize what I know about the world, limited as it is, and what I hear from my friends and see with my relatives.” KnowsWorldWritingTryingCharacterSituationMy Friends Author:Charlie Kaufman
“The Tale of Despereaux came at the request of Luke, my friend's then-eight-year-old son, who asked, "Write for me the story of an unlikely hero with exceptionally large ears."” WritingYearsStoriesSonHeroMy FriendsEarsEightTalesUnlikelyRequestLukeDespereauxUnlikely Heroes Author:Kate DiCamillo
“The author with the greatest influence on me is my friend Stephen Harrigan, who critiques everything I write before I even bother to show it to my agent or editor. He's a truly great writer - author of Gates of the Alamo and other books you might know of, and his instincts about what's working in a story, and what's not, are just about perfect. My books would be very different without his influence.” KnowsWritingBookDifferentStoriesShowsMightWould BePerfectInfluenceMy FriendsInstinctAgentsBotherGatesEditorsCritiqueGreat WritersAlamo Author:Elizabeth Crook
“The different social forces that affected my parents' lives or my friends' lives or I saw around me became essential for me to write about.” WritingDifferentForceSocialParentSawsEssentialsMy FriendsAffected Author:Bruce Springsteen
“I don't hire any companies or ask any of my friends to write reviews for me on Amazon when I have a book come out so they can drive up my ratings on Amazon. I don't have a publicist.” WritingBookAsksCompanyMy FriendsReviewsRatingAmazonPublicists Author:Simon Sinek
“I probably had something to do with being southern. For some reason, over the last few years I've been much more conscious of that. It's probably because my friend Jack Womack has a thesis that he and I write the way we do because we're southern and we experienced the very tail end of the premeditated south.” WayWritingYearsEndsReasonLastsConsciousMy FriendsSouthSouthernTailsThesis Author:William Gibson
“Everything I write is based on something I've personally experienced, or things that my friends have experienced that I just find horribly entertaining.” WritingMy FriendsEntertaining Author:Kesha
“I must say what I admire most is the person who masters an area of practical experience, and can teach me something. I mean, my local midwife has taught me how to keep bees. Well, she can't understand anything I write. And I find myself liking her, may I say, more than most poets. And among my friends I find people who know all about boats or know all about certain sports, or how to cut somebody open and remove an organ. I'm fascinated by this mastery of the practical.” PeopleKnowsWritingWellsMayMeanPersonsCertainSportsTeachCuttingTaughtPoetMastersMy FriendsAreasPracticalsLocalsAdmireBoatRemoveFascinatedMasteryOrgansBeesMidwifePractical Experience Author:Sylvia Plath
“I don't see myself as a deep philosopher. The things I write about tend to be what we all have to face, or consider, or experience, that I talk about with my friends and brothers. It's universal stuff, told in my own voice, my own details and truth, which is all I have to offer.” WritingFacesStuffVoiceMy OwnBrotherOffersMy FriendsUniversalPhilosopherDetails Author:Anne Lamott
“When I was in college, I used to write little ditties and short stories and poetry for my friends. Writing a book is another thing. It is so much different from my traditional day of dirty fingernails and greasy hair and hot pans.” WritingLittlesBookDifferentStoriesUsedCollegeHairMy FriendsHotTraditionalDirtyShort StoryWriting A BookNaughtyFingernails Author:Mario Batali
“My brother says that I was writing songs about fate while he was off playing soccer. Now I tell him he's 33 and being a professional while I'm playing soccer with my friends. Ha!” WritingSongFateBrotherMy FriendsSoccerMy BrotherWriting SongsPlaying Soccer Author:Alanis Morissette
“When I try to explain to people the big influences in my life, or at least when I first started, the most important ones were my friends who were also writing songs and were typically four or five years older than me.” PeopleWritingTryingYearsFirstsImportantBigsSongFiveFourInfluenceMy FriendsFive YearsWriting Songs Author:Conor Oberst
“I've never had a divorce, but I've seen so many of my friends, my sister, my family go through that stuff, so I try to write for the people that can't write about it. I take on their sorrow, so I'm able to kind of express it, or their joy.” PeopleWritingTryingKindAbleJoyStuffSorrowMy FriendsMy FamilyDivorceMy Sister Author:Dolly Parton
“On July 26, 1916, I announced to all my friends in America that from now on I resolved to write no more poems in the classical language, and to begin my experiments in writing poetry in the so-called vulgar tongue of the people.” PeopleWritingAmericaLanguageMy FriendsTongueExperimentsVulgarJulyWriting Poetry Author:Hu Shih
“Literary fiction and poetry are real marginalized right now. There's a fallacy that some of my friends sometimes fall into, the ol' "The audience is stupid. The audience only wants to go this deep. Poor us, we're marginalized because of TV, the great hypnotic blah, blah." You can sit around and have these pity parties for yourself. Of course this is bullshit. If an art form is marginalized it's because it's not speaking to people. One possible reason is that the people it's speaking to have become too stupid to appreciate it. That seems a little easy to me.” PeopleIfsWantWritingLittlesArtRealSometimesReasonSeemsFormFallCoursesEasyPoorPartyFictionAudienceStupidTvsRight NowMy FriendsAppreciatePityBullshitFallacyMarginalizedBlahHypnoticPity Party Author:David Foster Wallace
“When I'm writing a song, it's just me and the songwriters. Then when the song is done, there are publishers that hear it, then people in my management, then my wife and my boys and my friends, and if they're all lovin' it, it's kind of withstanding all the criticism I need.” PeopleIfsNeedsWritingKindDoneSongBoysWifeMy FriendsCriticismManagementMy WifeSongwritersPublishersMy BoysWithstanding Author:Luke Bryan
“Wherever I go, I'll always see you. You'll always be with me. And there's no happy ending coming here, no way a story that started on a night that's burned into my heart will end the way I wish it could. You're really gone, no last words, and no matter how many letters I write to you, you're never going to reply. You're never going to say good-bye. So I will. Good-bye, Julia. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being you.” WayWritingHeartEndsMatterStoriesLastsNightWishGoneMy HeartMy FriendsLettersBurnedLast WordsHappy EndingsByeGood ByeJuliaSaying Good Bye Author:Elizabeth Scott
“What i’m saying is, my friends, one ought to be able to let go. If a path does not please us, instead of insisting on going that specific way, of making our selfishness the guide, we ought to forsake. The books we cannot write, the films we cannot shoot, the projects we cannot develop, the jobs we cannot pursue and the people who no longer love us. Being able to let go, at times, is the most beautiful of all!” PeopleIfsWayWritingDoeBookAbleJobsBeautifulFilmPathOughtPleaseLetting GoProjectsMy FriendsGuidesPursueSelfishnessForsakeInsisting Author:Elif Safak
“I do not write for a select minority, which means nothing to me, nor for that adulated platonic entity known as ‘The Masses’. Both abstractions, so dear to the demagogue, I disbelieve in. I write for myself and for my friends, and I write to ease the passing of time.” WritingMeanKnownMassMy FriendsDearPassingPassingsEaseMinoritiesEntityAbstractionSelectPlatonic Book:In memory of Borges Source: In memory of Borges