Quotessence
Home / Topics / On Writing Quotes

On Writing Quotes

Browse 96 quotes about On Writing.

On Writing Quotes

“Create a world in front of your readers where they can taste, smell, touch, hear, see, and move. Or else they are likely going to move on to another book.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureImaginationFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On WritingShow Don T TellTactile Imagery
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Dreams are good at playing with your memory. They love leaving no trace behind and hate to show up once again in the morning.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureImaginationFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On WritingCapture DreamsRemember Dreams
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“A writer gets to live yet another life every time he or she creates a new story.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Writing a story is like going on a date—you will spoil it if you aren't living in the moment.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On WritingFocus On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“If certain aspect needs to be inconsistent, it must better be consistently inconsistent throughout the story.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Be a good reader first if you wish to become a good writer.”

WritingArtStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersArts And HumanitiesQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Tell a story in fewer and simpler words.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Turn those deep feelings and obsessions of your heart into captivating pieces of literature.”

WritingStoriesArtistReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting From The HeartWriting StyleAspiring WritersArts And HumanitiesQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Don’t interrupt when your characters take a flight of their own.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleCharacter DevelopmentWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On WritingLetting Characters Drive
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Don’t break the rules when you haven’t fully figured them out yet.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteRulesAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On WritingBreak The RulesBreaking Bad
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“If you think there is no time to write now, there will never be.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Good writing ideas don’t have to be about political turmoil, mass killings, capitalism, racism, injustice, and so on. Find that one idea that has deep roots in your heart.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting From The HeartWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“A writer can do without food for a few hours but not without the sight of books.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Ideas either age like fine wine or rot like potatoes over time.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting From The HeartWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On WritingWriting Ideas
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“If you are a singer, you must sing. If you are a dancer, you must dance. If you are a writer, you must write. Don’t suffocate your heart.”

WritingStoriesArtistReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersArts And HumanitiesQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“As you become a better writer, the writing becomes more difficult. You toil harder to tell a story in a smaller number of words.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionCreativityBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryCreative ProcessPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceCreative PeopleWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On Writing
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“Clichés are the viruses that infect your writing with diseases.”

WritingStoriesReadingLiteratureFictionBooksStorytellingWritersShort StoryPower Of WordsCreative WritingWriteAuthorsWriting AdviceWriting FictionWriting CraftOn WritingStory WritingWriting StyleAspiring WritersQuotes On WritingFundamentals Of WritingFundamentals Of Creative WritingTips On WritingCliches
Book:On Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing
Create image

“What is hell to a writer? Hell is being too busy to find the time to write or being unable to find the inspiration. Hell is suddenly finding the words but being away from your notebook or typewriter. Hell is when the verses slip away through your fingers and they never return again.”

PoetryLiteratureHellCreative WritingAuthorsOn WritingWriters BlockR M Engelhardt
Book:The Resurrection Waltz Poems R.M. Engelhardt
Create image

“Some notable people turned to writing in order to examine their life, assign meaning to their experiences, and by doing so shared with other people a beautiful rendering of what it means to be human. Can I temper the blows of life by recognizing loose snippets of life as chapters in an unfurling story? Should I take into consideration that suffering births all meaningful things in life? Alternatively, is the ability to experience and communicate joy what makes human life wonderful? What connective thread ties me to the broadcloth of other people’s stories? Do other people share stitches of raveled threads of loneliness and despair? Do other people know a secret verse to living joylessly and splendidly that eludes me? Do other people share my most profound ache to love?”

LonelinessMemoirWriting ProcessWriting LifeMemoir WritingOn WritingWriting MemoirPersonal EssaysEssayistWriters T
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
Create image

“I spent days and nights staring at the blank page, searching the deepest corners of my mind: who have I been, what have I seen, what did I learn? I thought about all the nights I've spent outside, all the times I laid down to cry and how I took a deep breath every morning and decided to simply go on. Because what else is there to do? Decide that this is it? I quit, I'm done? Oh if I could find words to justify those feelings I've carried. I could write the thickest of books with explosions of emotions from a young girl's lost heart. I could make you see, make you hear, make you feel, at least a tiny fragment of what's out there.”

LifeWritingHeartFeelingsYoungLostUnderstandingMorningLearningCryBooksAdventureEmotionsWordsWritersCryingExplosionsUnderstandFeelSeeSearchingHearOutsideOn WritingWho Am INightsVagabondGo OnVagabondingNot Give Up
Book:Empty Roads & Broken Bottles: in search for The Great Perhaps
Create image

“And this is what being an artist means, being a poet? To sacrifice yourself for your art, sacrifice your heart for your art, because it’s only through something broken that something beautiful can grow.”

WritingArtInspirationYoungPoetryArtistMotivationBeautyGrowing UpSacrificeStrengthPoetBrokenCreatingWriterOn WritingThe Glass ChildCharlotte ErikssonBeing A WriterThe Great PerhapsBeing A PoetEmpty Roads Broken Bottles
Book:Empty Roads & Broken Bottles: in search for The Great Perhaps
Create image

“A novel examines not reality but existence. And existence is not what has occurred, existence is the realm of human possibilities, everything that man can become, everything he's capable of. Novelists draw up the map of existence by discovering this or that human possibilit. But again, to exist mean: 'being-in-the-world.' Thus both the character and his world must be understood as possibilities.”

LiteratureNovelPossibilitiesOn Writing
Book:The Art of the Novel
Create image

“Where on earth did it come from? You can ask that question of any poem, and one inevitable answer is a simple one: work. No made thing springs up unbidden, even those that seem to. The poem that announced itself to the intoxicated Coleridge, before a knock at the door banished most of it from his memory, or the composition that sprung full blown into the head of Mozart, as he stepped down from a carriage after a satisfying dinner, seemed to pour from the artist's hand, so long schooled those hands had become. But years of labor inform those spontaneous productions. Though a poem over which one struggles may seem labored, it often prepares the way for new writing in which what's been learned emerges with an effortless grace.”

WritingInspirationPoetryArtistPoetPoemAuthorOn Writing
Book:What Is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life
Create image

“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all, The flat unraised spirits that have dared On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth So great an object: can this cockpit hold The vasty fields of France? or may we cram Within this wooden O the very casques That did affright the air at Agincourt? O, pardon! since a crooked figure may Attest in little place a million; And let us, ciphers to this great accompt, On your imaginary forces work. Suppose within the girdle of these walls Are now confined two mighty monarchies, Whose high upreared and abutting fronts The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder: Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts; Into a thousand parts divide on man, And make imaginary puissance; Think when we talk of horses, that you see them Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth; For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times, Turning the accomplishment of many years Into an hour-glass: for the which supply, Admit me Chorus to this history; Who prologue-like your humble patience pray, Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.”

InspirationOn Writing
Book:Henry V
Create image

“And although writing is something I have done every day for years now, I again get the feeling that this thing I call 'my job' is nothing but another avoidance strategy. Compared to all other professions, writing is like the effort a tick makes to feed and survive among predators. I climb onto a branch, wait a long time until the herd passes, calculate the least risky distance to drop onto a fluffy mass and drink a minuscule ration of blood, which will allow me to maintain this limited but sufficient life.”

WritingSurvivalIsolationDetachmentEscapismOn WritingAvoidance Of Reality
Book:La encomienda
Create image