Quotes about writing

"I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn."

— Anne Frank

 

"There are three rules for writing a novel.  Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

— W. Somerset Maughan

 

"I know I was writing stories when I was five.  I don't know what I did before that.  Just loafed, I suppose."

— P. G. Wodehouse

 

"Write a short story every week.  It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row."

— Ray Bradbury

 

"If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood.  I'd type a little faster."

— Isaac Asimov

 

"It's doubtful that anyone with an Internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction."

— Jonathan Franze

 

 "I think 'write what you know' is the single worst piece of writing advice.  Instead, write what you're really interested in.  Write what is going to keep you awake at night; write what you don't understand; write to figure something out.  Good novels are journeys into the unknown, for their authors as well as their readers."

— Toni Jordan  

“People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy… and I keep it in a jar on my desk.” 
— Stephen King

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” 
— George Orwell

"This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important."
— Gary Provost