#raf

While I'm writing, I'm far away; and when I come back, I've gone. ↗

— Pablo Neruda

#writing-craft

... And the only way to find that honesty is to not overthink it. For your writing to come alive--to be multi-dimensional--you must barter away some control. ↗

— Elizabeth Sims

#books #writing #writing-craft #writing-craft

Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties." (Interview in Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, Eighth Series, ed. George Plimpton, 1988) ↗

— John Irving

#craft #novels #victims #writing #writing-craft

You are always naked when you start writing; you are always as if you had never written anything before; you are always a beginner. Shakespeare wrote without knowing he would become Shakespeare ↗

— Erica Jong

#writing-craft

If I didn't know the ending of a story, I wouldn't begin. I always write my last lines, my last paragraph first, and then I go back and work towards it. I know where I'm going. I know what my goal is. And how I get there is God's grace. ↗

— Katherine Anne Porter

#writing #writing-craft

Five common traits of good writers: (1) They have something to say. (2) They read widely and have done so since childhood. (3) They possess what Isaac Asimov calls a "capacity for clear thought," able to go from point to point in an orderly sequence, an A to Z approach. (4) They're geniuses at putting their emotions into words. (5) They possess an insatiable curiosity, constantly asking Why and How. ↗

— James J. Kilpatrick

#writing #writing-craft #writing-craft

If the story you're telling, is the story you're telling, you're in deep shit. ↗

— Robert McKee

#writing #writing-craft #writing-craft

It's best to have your tools with you. If you don't, you're apt to find something you didn't expect and get discouraged. ↗

— Stephen King

#tools #writing #writing-craft

Murphy is a writer's best friend, but you have to keep an eye on him, or he'll steal the silver. ↗

— Patricia C. Wrede

#writing #writing-craft #writing-craft

Don't over edit. Don't second-guess yourself, or your ideas. Just write. Write every day, and keep at it. Don't get discouraged with the rejections. Tape them up on your office wall, to remind you of all the hard work you put in when you finally start getting published! It's all about persistence and passion. And have fun with it. Don't forget to have fun. ↗

— Heather Grace Stewart

#writing-craft #writing-process #writing-craft