# Quotes about writing - Quotes: 16 - Authors: 10 - Broader topic: [Quotes about literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing ## Quotes > It takes a spasm of love to write a poem. [Erica Jong](https://www.leafyquotes.com/erica-jong.md) · [How to Save Your Own Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/erica-jong/how-to-save-your-own-life.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/erica-jong/how-to-save-your-own-life/it-takes-a-spasm.md) Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md), [poetry](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry.md) > The men who have really been the bold artists, the realistic artists, the uncompromising artists, are the men who have turned out, after all, to be writing "with a purpose." [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-men-who.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/a-good-novel.md) Topics: [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > It is in this way that all my books have been composed. They were always written at least twice over; a first draft of the entire work was completed to the very end of the subject, then the whole begun again de novo; but incorporating, in the second writing, all sentences and parts of sentences of the old draft, which appeared as suitable to my purpose as anything which I could write in lieu of them. I have found great advantages in this system of double redaction. It combines, better than any other mode of composition, the freshness and vigour of the first conception, with the superior precision and completeness resulting from prolonged thought. In my own case, moreover, I have found that the patience necessary for a careful elaboration of the details of composition and expression, costs much less effort after the entire subject has been once gone through, and the substance of all that I find to say has in some manner, however imperfect, been got upon paper. Autobiography · p. 222 Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > Mere newspaper articles on the occurrences or questions of the moment, gave no opportunity for the development of any general mode of thought; but I attempted, in the beginning of 1831, to embody in a series of articles, headed "The Spirit of the Age," some of my new opinions, and especially to point out in the character of the present age, the anomalies and evils characteristic of the transition from a system of opinions which had worn out, to another only in process of being formed. These articles were, I fancy, lumbering in style, and not lively or striking enough to be at any time, acceptable to newspaper readers; but had they been far more attractive, still, at that particular moment, when great political changes were impending, and engrossing all minds, these discussions were ill-timed, and missed fire altogether. The only effect which I know to have been produced by them, was that Carlyle, then living in a secluded part of Scotland, read them in his solitude, and saying to himself (as he afterwards told me) "here is a new Mystic," inquired on coming to London that autumn respecting their authorship; an inquiry which was the immediate cause of our becoming personally acquainted. Autobiography · p. 173 Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > Writing a book for the Follies seems to be about as profitable an occupation as furnishing flannel petticoats for the showgirls. p. 151 [Dorothy Parker](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dorothy-parker.md) · [Dorothy Parker: Poems](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dorothy-parker/dorothy-parker-poems.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dorothy-parker/dorothy-parker-poems/writing-a-book.md) Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > This book had two authors, and they were both the same person. [Terry Pratchett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett.md) · [The Carpet People](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-carpet-people.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-carpet-people/this-book-had.md) Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > What I do now is think of a problem and a resolution to that problem. I then begin the story, making it up as I go along, having all the excitement of finding out what will happen to the characters and how they will get out of their scrapes, but working steadily toward the known resolution, so that I don’t get lost en route. > > When I asked for advice for beginners, I always stress that. Know your ending, I say, or the river of your story may finally sink into the desert sands and never reach the sea. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov.md) · p. 49 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/what-i-do-now.md) Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > It is not very difficult to write for teenagers if you avoid thinking of them as children. I do not simplify my vocabulary for them, though I often add the pronunciations of the technical terms, merely to reduce the terror they inspire visually. I do avoid sentences that are too long and complex and I do not indulge in obscure illusions. What is lacking in a teenager is not intelligence or reasoning ability, but merely experience. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov.md) · p. 525 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/it-is-not.md) Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > The novels I have been writing lately are the kind I wrote in the 1950s. (I have been criticized for this by some critics, but the day I pay attention to critics is the day the sky will fall.) [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov.md) · p. 77 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/the-novels-i-have.md) Topics: [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > In writing a science fiction novel, you must invent a futuristic social structure which is complex enough to be interesting in itself apart from the story and which is self-consistent. You must also invent a plot that works only within that social structure. The plot must develop without unduly obscuring the description of the social structure, and the social structure must be described without unduly slowing the plot. > > Making a science fiction novel fulfill this double purpose is difficult even for an experienced and talented old hand such as myself. Every other kind of writing is easier than science fiction. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov.md) · p. 265 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/in-writing-a-science.md) Topics: [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > A character is never the author who created him. It is quite likely, however, that an author may be all his characters simultaneously. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Rebel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel.md) · p. 86 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/a-character-is-never.md) Topics: [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > Many of my friends are under the impression that I write these humorous nothings in idle moments when the wearied brain is unable to perform the serious labours of the economist. My own experience is exactly the other way. The writing of solid, instructive stuff fortified by facts and figures is easy enough. There is no trouble in writing a scientific treatise on the folk-lore of Central China, or a statistical enquiry into the declining population of Prince Edward Island. But to write something out of one's own mind, worth reading for its own sake, is an arduous contrivance only to be achieved in fortunate moments, few and far between. Personally, I would sooner have written "Alice in Wonderland" than the whole Encyclopaedia Britannica. [Stephen Leacock](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-leacock.md) · [Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-leacock/sunshine-sketches-of-a-little-town.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-leacock/sunshine-sketches-of-a-little-town/many-of-my-friends.md) Topics: [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > Of course, Pupkin would never have thought of considering himself on an intellectual par with Mallory Tompkins. That would have been ridiculous. Mallory Tompkins had read all sorts of things and had half a mind to write a novel himself—either that or a play. All he needed, he said, was to have a chance to get away somewhere by himself and think. Every time he went away to the city Pupkin expected that he might return with the novel all finished; but though he often came back with his eyes red from thinking, the novel as yet remained incomplete. [Stephen Leacock](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-leacock.md) · [Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-leacock/sunshine-sketches-of-a-little-town.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-leacock/sunshine-sketches-of-a-little-town/of-course-pupkin.md) Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > When one writes a novel about grown people, he knows exactly where to stop—that is, with a marriage; but when he writes of juveniles, he must stop where he best can. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/when-one-writes.md) Topics: [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > I have, over the years, received in the mail approximately 17 million manuscripts from people whose goal is to become professional writers. They want me to discover them, encourage them, mentor them, find them an agent, etc. Some of these people have talent; some of them have actually become professional writers. But a great many of them will never become professional writers, because- follow me closely here- they are not good at writing. Of course I don't tell them that. Probably nobody will ever tell them that. They will continue to try and fail, and in the end they'll be bitter, like the early-round contestants on American Idol who think they got booted because Simon Cowell is mean, rather than because their singing sounds like a bull being castrated with a hockey stick. These contestants humiliated themselves on national TV because when they were growing up, loving to sing, always singing around the house, no thoughtful family member or caring friend ever had the kindness to put a hand on their shoulder and say, in a gentle and loving voice, "You suck." They needed Simon Cowells, but instead they were surrounded by Randy Jacksons and Paula Abduls, trying to be nice, not wanting to hurt their feelings, and thus setting them up for failure. [Dave Barry](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry.md) · [I'll Mature When I'm Dead](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/ill-mature-when-im-dead.md) · p. 240 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/ill-mature-when-im-dead/i-have-over.md) Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md), [talent](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent.md), [honesty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honesty.md)