The hard part of writing isn’t the writing; it’s the thinking. You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: What does the reader need to know next?
– William Zinsser
Tag: writing
Quotable 482
The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation.
– James Fenton
Quotable 476
I think one must trust the writing process. Understand that creativity requires nonlinearity and unique associative combinations. Creative people do a lot of trial and error and rarely know where they are going exactly until they get there.
– Scott Barry Kaufman
Quotable 464
I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.
– James A. Michener
Quotable 460
You want in all cases for the story to get through the writing.
– Alice Munro
Quotable 456
Repeat the mantra: Writing is when I make the words. Editing is when I make them not shitty.
– Chuck Wendig
Quotable 455
Novels begin not on the page, but in meditation and day-dreaming, in thinking not writing.
– Joyce Carol Oates
Quotable 445
Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.
– Anne Lamott
Quotable 441
Writing is a craft in the way that carpentry is a craft: There’s art to it, sure, and a certain inspiration required of it, definitely, but for the most part you’re just sawing and sanding and getting dust in your eyes.
– Megan Garber
Quotable 438
A lot of people talk about writing. The secret is to write, not talk.
– Jackie Collins