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Writing Quotes

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Writing Quotes

“When I hit a block, regardless of what I am writing, what the subject matter is, or what's going on in the plot, I go back and I read Pablo Neruda's poetry. I don't actually speak Spanish, so I read it translation. But I always go back to Neruda. I don't know why, but it calms me, calms my brain.”

Knows Writing Matter Speak Brain Subjects Calm Block Plot Translations Subject Matter

Author:Tea Obreht

“My prescription for writer's block is to face the fact that there is no such thing.... Writing well is difficult, but one can always write something. And then, with a lot of work, make it better. It's a question of having enough will and ambition, not of hoping to evade this mysterious hysteria people are always talking about.”

People Writing Wells Enough Facts Faces Difficult Talking Ambition Block Mysterious Prescriptions Hysteria Writer's Block Writing Well

Author:Thomas Mallon

“I plot as I go. Many novelists write an outline that has almost as many pages as their ultimate book. Others knock out a brief synopsis... Do what is comfortable. If you have to plot out every move your characters make, so be it. Just make sure there is a plausible purpose behind their machinations. A good reader can smell a phony plot a block away.”

Ifs Writing Book Character Moving Purpose Behinds Reader Comfortable Pages Ultimate Smell Block Novelists Plot Outlines Phony Plausible Synopsis

Author:Clive Cussler

“I don't really think of time off as writing blocks. I think that's a western notion of demonizing inactivity. When your imagination decides it needs to take a nap. maybe that's what it needs to do.”

Thinking Needs Writing Imagination Western Notion Block Naps Time Off Inactivity

Author:Elliott Smith

“In creation myths, a god shapes mud or clay into living form, much like a potter throws a pot or a sculptor reveals the statue within a block of marble. But a writer has to create his own clay or stone before he can begin shaping life from it.”

Writing Form Creation Shapes Stones Myth Block Pot Mud Clay Statues Potters Marble Sculptors Creation Myths

Author:Stuart Dybek

“It's just as well that I write in the same facile way wherever I am - no blocks or anguish, no contemplation, no elaborate revision, no need for love-tokens or nice views.”

Way Needs Writing Wells Views Nice Block Contemplation Anguish Revision Tokens

Author:Peter York

“Sometimes writer's block is no more than a signal that you have not done enough research.”

Writing Sometimes Done Enough Research Block Signals Writer's Block

Book:For Writers Only: Inspiring Thoughts on the Exquisite Pain and Heady Joy of the Writing Life from Its Great Practitioners

Source: For Writers Only: Inspiring Thoughts on the Exquisite Pain and Heady Joy of the Writing Life from Its Great Practitioners

“I think no more than a week after I started writing I ran into the first block. It's hard to describe it in a way that will be understandable to anyone who is not a neurotic.”

Thinking Way Writing Firsts Hard Week Block Ran Neurotic

Book:Sweet Bird of Youth

Source: Sweet Bird of Youth

“I've never really suffered complete and utter writer's block, really. I equate it with sex: in the beginning of my career, I was writing five songs a week; now, I occasionally write a song. But it's an exciting moment when it happens!”

Writing Moments Happens Song Sex Careers Five Week Exciting Block Writer's Block

Author:Loudon Wainwright III