Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Quotes on writing

General Writing Discussion
#1

I could have sworn we had a thread somewhere for our favorite writing quotes, but maybe I’m thinking of the old forums, or somewhere else. Anyway, since it’s not here I’ll start one. :slight_smile: I was reading through a journal from 5 years ago today and ran across this one:

“A man is what he writes, no better and no worse. Writers who are able to interest readers of any kind are invariably sincere, although some of them hate to admit it. Writers of sentimental stories invariably turn out to be genuinely sentimental when you get to know them well, and it is impossible to write a convincingly sadistic story without having a real streak of sadism in one’s nature. Clever people who attempt to write sentimentally or sadistically on purpose to gain an audience end with thin little parodies. A writer cannot choose his audience; he can only be himself and let his audience choose him.”

 --Sloan Wilson

A few others I’ve liked for years:

“Each new writing project should be viewed as an opportunity to explore where you and your writing talent are now.”
–Dennis Palumbo

“As a writer, you need to define success for yourself. Only then can you decide if you’re on the road to meeting that criterion.”
–Nancy Kress

“If you are never satisfied with what you write, that is a good sign. It means your vision can see so far that it is hard to come up to it. Again I say, the only unfortunate people are the glib ones, immediately satisfied with their work. To them, the ocean is only knee-deep.”
–Brenda Ueland

And my current favorite, which I copied to the first page of my most recently completed journal:

“Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that – but you are the only you.”
–Neil Gaiman

I could post tons more, but I’ll stop there for now. :slight_smile: Who’s next?

#2

“Never use an intestinal Latin word when a gutty germanic one can serve equally well.”

Robert A. Heinlein

#3

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” ~Robert Bach

“There are thousands of thoughts living within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes.” ~William Makepeace Thackeray

“Fantasy is the endless optimism that one person can make a difference.” ~R.A.Salvatore

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” ~Ray Bradbury

“The role of the writer is to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.” ~Anais Nin

“Writing is utter solitude, the decent into the cold abyss of oneself.” ~Franz Kafka

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” ~Margret Atwood

“The more a man writes, the more he can write.” ~William Hazlitt

#4

"Writer’s block…a lot of howling nonsense would be avoided if, in every sentence containing the word WRITER, that word was taken out and the word PLUMBER substituted; and the result examined for the sense it makes. Do plumbers get plumber’s block? What would you think of a plumber who used that as an excuse not to do any work that day?

The fact is that writing is hard work, and sometimes you don’t want to do it, and you can’t think of what to write next, and you’re fed up with the whole damn business. Do you think plumbers don’t feel like that about their work from time to time? Of course there will be days when the stuff is not flowing freely. What you do then is MAKE IT UP. I like the reply of the composer Shostakovich to a student who complained that he couldn’t find a theme for his second movement. “Never mind the theme! Just write the movement!” he said.

Writer’s block is a condition that affects amateurs and people who aren’t serious about writing. So is the opposite, namely inspiration, which amateurs are also very fond of. Putting it another way: a professional writer is someone who writes just as well when they’re not inspired as when they are."
-Philip Pullman

#5

“Sit your (butt) down and write.” -Patrick Rothfuss

Yes, I replaced butt for another word since I didn’t want to cross any lines. It’s such a straight-forward quote, but it’s one that I need to keep reminding myself. I have a perfect storm of problems since I’m a perfectionist writer who also tends to get very ADD with my work. Sometimes I just need to remind myself that the self-editing isn’t needed when only a fraction of the story is out. That the ‘ooh shiny’ can wait another hour or so. Stop with the distractions, stop with the procrastination, and just write. Plain and simple.

#6

PG Wodehouse said something similar, about the art of writing lying in applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair :slight_smile:

#7

Far more eliquently worded, it reminds me of the saying Manure Ocurreth.

#8

The guy was the Master where words are concerned. I spent a lot of my teens attempting to write in Wodehouse’s style, quite badly, and I still slip into the habit if I’m not careful.

#9

That sounds like a perfectly reasonable habit to me.

#10

I see no problem with this habit >.> I have a friend who will speak like that from time to time without meaning to and I find it inspirational as a writer.