Best writing & thinking Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“An early editor characterized my books as 'romantic comedy for intelligent adults.' I think people see them as funny but kind. I don't set out to write either funny or kind, but it's a voice they like, quirky like me... And you know, people like happy endings.”

People Thinking Knows Writing Kind Book Voice Comedy Adults Intelligent Like Me Editors Happy Endings Quirky

Author:Elinor Lipman

“I think striking the right tone for your story is, if you like, the alchemical work of writing.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Stories Tone

Author:Julia Leigh

“People really want to believe that there is no fiction. I think they find it much easier to imagine that novelists are writing memoirs, writing about their lives, because it's difficult to conceive that there's a great imaginary life in which you can participate.”

People Thinking Want Writing Believe Difficult Fiction Imagine Easier Memoir Novelists Imaginary Imagine That Imaginary Life

Author:Mark Leyner

“I don't think I prefer writing for one age group above another. I am just as pleased with a story which I feel works well for very small children as I do with a story for young adults.”

Thinking Feels Writing Wells Children Stories Age Young Groups Adults Young Adult Small Child

Author:Margaret Mahy

“I was able to work out all sorts of attitudes to style and event and character, all of which affected the way I came to think about my own writing. I believe that all good writers are original.”

Thinking Way Writing Believe Character Able I Believe My Own Attitude Style Events Originals Work Out Affected Good Writers

Author:Margaret Mahy

“I never think about poetry except when I'm writing it. I mean my poetry.”

Thinking Writing Mean Literature

Author:Norman MacCaig

“I'm not really one of those people who goes and writes some big back story and agonizes over characters. I think you kind of can get it. For me personally, it's just kind of more instinctive. But I don't have kind of an acting background. I fell into it accidentally.”

People Thinking Writing Kind Character Stories Bigs Acting Backgrounds

Author:Rose McGowan

“I'm not a writer. I think I can write short stories and poetry, but film writing, brilliant film writing, is a talent - you can't just do it like that.”

Thinking Writing I Can Stories Film Talent Brilliant Short Story Just Do It Film Writing

Author:Samantha Morton

“I think people would actually be surprised by what we put out. Unfortunately the shadow that the original founders cast was that they were just artists that can't write books so people swept the whole of Image with that paintbrush.”

People Thinking Writing Book Whole Artist Shadow Originals Casts Founders Paintbrush

Author:Todd McFarlane

“Luckily I haven't fallen into the trap, which has claimed so many writers, of living from day to day thinking 'Ah, I'll write a book about that.'”

Thinking Writing Book Havens Fallen Traps Day To Day Amelie

Author:Amelie Nothomb

“The only pressure I feel is to write good books. And to not replicate the previous book. Whether you have a thousand readers or a million readers it doesn't change the pressure. I never feel tempted to give the reader what I think the reader wants.”

Thinking Want Giving Feels Writing Book Millions Reader Thousand Pressure Tempted Good Book Replicate

Author:Jo Nesbo

“I wanted to write songs which I think is a different thing. I wanted to write music that is informed by folk music. The chord progressions are obvious references.”

Thinking Writing Different Wanted Song Folks Obvious Different Things Chords Progression Folk Music

Author:Joanna Newsom

“I think there have been some periods when the writing almost became a bit of a burden.”

Thinking Writing Has Beens Bits Periods Burden

Author:Leo Ornstein

“No, I think that a person writes a poem because they have an inner urge of something that they want to express, and I think it's that inner urge that you want to express when you write a piece of music.”

Thinking Want Writing Persons Pieces Urges

Author:Leo Ornstein

“I've been leading newsrooms for a while now and it's been an honor serving as Editor in Chief of N.J., but I really think that my best shot at moving the needle in politics is by getting close to it - by reading, reporting, tweeting and writing.”

Thinking Writing Moving Reading Honor Shots Chiefs Serving Editors Needles Best Shot

Author:Ron Fournier

“People ask me what I'm writing. They think I'm Sandra Tsing Loh. Or they ask about stand-up. 'No, that's Margaret Cho.' I really think there is this kind of glomming, that they think we are somehow all the same person.”

People Thinking Writing Kind Persons Asks Ask Me

Author:Sandra Oh

“I know that the writers I read and admire all have an influence on my work, but trying to determine to what degree any particular piece of input changes the way I think about writing seems counterproductive.”

Thinking Knows Way Writing Trying Seems Pieces Influence Particular Degrees Determine Admire Input Counterproductive

Author:Kevin Powers

“A good novel is a good novel, pointe finale. And I think what I'm writing is exactly that.”

Thinking Writing Novel Finale Pointe

Author:Louise Penny

“When I'm creating characters, I definitely think of theme songs. Writing for me is very visual, so I sometimes think of it in terms of a movie with a soundtrack, and try to transfer that to words.”

Thinking Writing Trying Sometimes Character Song Term Creating Theme Visuals Transfers Soundtracks Creating Characters

Author:Marisha Pessl

“Sometimes I think my writing sounds like I walked out of the room and left the typewriter running.”

Thinking Writing Sometimes Running Romance Left Sound Rooms Typewriters

Author:Gene Fowler

“Well, first you have to love writing. A lot of authors love having written. But I enjoy the actual writing. Beside that, I think the main reason I can be so prolific is the huge amount of planning I do before I start to write. I do a very complete, chapter-by-chapter outline of every book I write. When I sit down to write, I already know everything that's going to happen in the book. This means I've done all the important thinking, and I can relax and enjoy the writing. I could never write so many books if I didn't outline them first.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Writing Firsts Wells Mean I Can Important Book Reason Done Happens Enjoy Written Huge Amount Planning Relax Chapters Outlines

Author:R. L. Stine

“Writers think in metaphors. Editors work in metaphors. A great reader reads in metaphors.”

Thinking Writing Reader Metaphor Editors

Author:Steven Pressfield

“You can't. Do you hear me? You think you've figured something out? You run over here so pleased with yourself because you changed your mind. Now you're certain. You're so... sloppy. You don't know anything. The book, the math, the dates, the writing, all that stuff you decided with your buddies, it's just evidence. It doesn't finish the job. It doesn't prove anything.”

Thinking Knows Writing Mind Book Running Jobs Certain Stuff Changed Prove Evidence Decided Logic Math Certainty Uncertainty Reasoning Buddy Ontology Sloppy You Changed

Author:David Auburn

“I know when a story is finished when there is not a single thing more I can think to do to it. And since I know at the start what the last line will be, I know when I've reached that point as logically as I can that it's finished. As for the rewriting-it's not foolproof, of course, but if you're honest about having thought of every possibility and you still come back to what you have, what more can you do?”

Ifs Thinking Knows Writing Stills I Can Stories Lasts Courses Lines Honest Possibility Finished Rewriting Foolproof

Author:Amy Hempel

“I love writing in longhand. Writing in longhand, I think, is a marvelous thing to do for a writer these days. If you have a notebook and a nice pen you can go off somewhere, you can write that's solar powered. You can drop it or get it wet and pretty much all of your work will continue to be there. If you suddenly decide to look up a word or check a reference you will not look up four hours later, blinking, finding yourself somehow in the middle of an Ebay auction you never had any plans to be part of.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Looks Hours Four Nice Plans Middle Findings Checks These Days Things To Do Look Up Finding Yourself Pens Wet Marvelous Notebook Auctions Ebay Marvelous Things

Author:Neil Gaiman

“I think it starts to feel really redundant when you start to do something the same way over and over again. I don't think it's good to become so dependent on a certain writing process.”

Thinking Way Feels Writing Certain Process Dependent Writing Process Redundant

Author:Brie Larson

“I know you shouldn't spit in your own soup but I think most crime writing is like TV and doesn't make enormous demands on one's intellect.”

Thinking Knows Writing Crime Tvs Demand Intellect Enormous Soup Spit

Author:Donna Leon

“Most people think in order to validate yourself as an artist, you have to write your own songs. I commend the guys that do. I've done it. But I also think that you can pick great songs outside that you didn't write that can help your career.”

People Thinking Writing Done Helping Artist Guy Song Order Careers Picks Write Your Own

Author:Jake Owen

“Some artists will tell you that's all they want to do is write their own music, and that's great, but George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, they didn't write everything they recorded, and they've had major, major careers. I think it's all about the best song.”

Thinking Want Writing Artist Song Careers Majors Brooks Kenny

Author:Jake Owen

“I've written short stories in first person, but you have so much more control writing in third person. Third person, you know what everybody's thinking. First person is very limiting, and I could never sustain a first person novel before.”

Thinking Knows Writing Firsts Persons Stories Novel Written Thirds Short Story First Person Third Person Thinking First

Author:Tamora Pierce

“I don't write for an audience, I don't think whether my book will sell, I don't sell it before I finish writing it.”

Thinking Writing Book Audience Sells

Author:Ann Patchett

“The centerpiece of 'Law and Order' is the crime, and it starts with the writing. There's a beginning, a middle and an end. It allows the audience to watch any given episode and can drop right in and not feel lost. I think the stark, raw structure has a lot to do with its longevity.”

Thinking Feels Writing Ends Law Order Lost Given Watches Audience Middle Crime Structure Episodes Longevity Starks Law And Order Centerpieces

Author:Danny Pino

“Whenever I write, I'm always thinking of the reader.”

Thinking Writing Literature Reader Always Thinking

Author:Manuel Puig

“Sometimes I panic and think I can't really write.”

Thinking Writing I Can Sometimes Panic

Author:Sara Paretsky

“It's important, I think, for a writer of fiction to maintain an awareness of the pace and shape of the book as he's writing it. That is, he should be making an object, not chattering.”

Thinking Should Writing Important Book Fiction Awareness Objects Shapes Pace

Author:Thomas Perry

“I hardly ever think about audience. I just try to tell a story for me. I write the kind of story I would like to read.”

Thinking Writing Trying Kind Stories Audience

Author:Brent Runyon

“I used to think that: whenever I heard that someone had taken 10 years to write a novel, I'd think it must be a big, serious book. Now I think, 'No - it took you one year to write, and nine years to sit around eating Kit Kats.”

Thinking Writing Years Book Bigs Used Novel Taken Heard Serious Eating Nine Nine Years

Author:Ian Rankin

“I'm often asked how I write books, but I don't think my approach is suitable for everyone. If I walked into a creative writing class, all I could say to them was 'I tend to make it up as I go along.' I'm not sure that's brilliant advice.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Book Class Creative Advice Approach Brilliant Not Sure Creative Writing Suitable

Author:Ian Rankin

“I really didn't think about song writing.”

Thinking Writing Song

Author:Adam Rich

“I think the musicians I play with solo do a certain thing that the musicians we play with with the Indigo Girls don't do. It's just a different thing. And it sort of steers my writing in some ways.”

Thinking Way Writing Different Play Certain Girl Musician Different Things Solo Steers Indigo

Author:Amy Ray

“I think something that forces financial institutions to write down underwater mortgages, I think, would be a sensible thing to do.”

Thinking Writing Would Be Force Institutions Financial Things To Do Sensible Mortgage Underwater Financial Institutions

Author:Christina Romer

“When I write an email where I outlined a whole scene, it just came out of my unconscious, it comes from a deeper place. The same thing happens when the actors go, take after take, and just get lost in it. When you're in a house, you don't think about being in the house; you're just there.”

Thinking Writing Whole Happens Actors House Lost Scene Deeper Things Happen Unconscious Email

Author:David O. Russell

“I wrote for years before I was ever published, and I don't think I could ever stop. That said, I was also a veterinarian before I sold my first book, and I still volunteer my time to help with animal welfare causes. So that is a career I would be happy to return to - while still secretly writing strange stories back in my doctor's office.”

“You won't see me writing about particle physics, or even planetary geology, or chemistry. I practically failed chemistry, and if I had to write a book in any of those areas, I don't think it would go well.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Wells Book Areas Physics Chemistry Particles Geology Particle Physics

Author:Mary Roach

“The most important thing is to write material that YOU think is funny. If you don't think it's funny, but you're convinced that other people will think it is, well they won't.”

People Ifs Thinking Writing Wells Important Materials Important Things Convinced

Author:Mo Rocca

“I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Wells Stories Literature Written Love Story Written Word

Author:Nora Roberts

“I think that's what I love about writing, is the ability to try to, in a sense, take a vacation from yourself and try to enter the sensibility of another time, another character, another place.”

Thinking Writing Trying Character Ability Vacation Sensibility Another Time

Author:Ron Rash

“I think writing a poem is like being a greyhound. Writing a novel is like being a mule. You go up one long row, then down another, and try not to look up too often to see how far you still have to go.”

Thinking Writing Trying Looks Long Stills Novel Look Up Mules Greyhounds

Author:Ron Rash

“When I put together a graphic novel, I don't think about literary prose. I think about storytelling.”

Thinking Writing Together Novel Storytelling Prose Graphic Graphic Novels

Author:Ted Rall

“I think it's harder than ever to be an artist. I think that you end up, especially as a middle-aged person, you pay such big consequences for saying, 'I'm just going to devote my life to making art,' or 'I'm going to devote my life to writing novels.' You end up with no resources.”

Thinking Writing Persons Art Ends Bigs Artist Pay Novel Middle Consequence Resources Harder Middle Aged

Author:Dana Spiotta

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