Writing Advice Quotes - Page 10

Great characters- They are pivotal for a great plot. THEN a solid plot: Why then? If you do not have great characters it is impossible to create a good plot, nonetheless a solid one. Once you have built great characters for the scenes, there you have it. It’s just like the movies, you cannot have a great film if the characters are frail and their lines are weak as well. I guess great world-building comes along with a good plot. If there is something that will work fine in a novel is how you will develop from the theme. You’ve got to establish a good timeline, and from there it comes a world. You see the technical matters don’t match or matter as much to me. Even a poorly written story, if there is a good plot and great characters on it will make a divine combination There are simply many cases of it over the mainstream and that even reached the big screen.

Giving a reader a sex scene that is only half right is like giving her half a kitten. It is not half as cute as a whole kitten; it is a bloody, godawful mess. A half-good sex scene is not half as hot; it actually moves into the negative numbers, draining any heat from the surrounding material.

Sandra Newman

You are learning to be an expert.

Lailah Gifty Akita

I write to shed my sacred sorrows.

Lailah Gifty Akita

[Speaking about writing her first novel] You have to be passionate enough about it and I was.

Kristyn Van Cleave

Every beginner possesses a great potential to be an expert in his or her chosen field.

Lailah Gifty Akita

It's all mine, it's all sacred.

Coco J. Ginger

Thankfully existing only in SMALL pockets within our discipline, is “intellectual” snobbery. It’s a hushed but ugly truth that people are made to feel not worthy to be among a certain set – didn’t attend the right school or don’t have the requisite abbreviations to follow their name. I know what that feels like. Good thing I'm pigheaded, have a bigger vision and committed to my craft, or I would’ve succumbed to it long ago. That is why when I meet an emerging writer who’s serious about developing their craft, I try to encourage them as much as I can. I say IGNORE the highbrow cliques and prove your mettle by growing, accepting balanced feedback and most of all, creating work that will stand the test of time. Period.

Sandra Sealy

You ought to write down the glow of thoughts as it’s ignites.

Lailah Gifty Akita

There is nothing better than expressions in words.

Lailah Gifty Akita

Keep being bold on the page, and in life, and people cannot ignore you forever.

Don Roff

You will have the grace of writing, when you boldly begin to write your first sentences.

Lailah Gifty Akita

I know, not everyone will like what I write, but writing is not about trying to please everybody.

E.A. Bucchianeri

In order to protect their good names for posterity, many writers never wrote what they thought or the truth as it stood. That's why truth still lies hidden in matters of power, sex and religion. No wonder they chose to do so, many who dared paid with their heads

Bangambiki Habyarimana

Pound it out, get it done, write every day. No excuses. Kerouac said you can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club. Damn straight. You’ll sleep a lot better getting your word count in than another quick Twitter check or keeping up to date on the Kardashians.

Dan Alatorre

You have to put yourself out there as a writer, you can’t play it safe.

Dan Alatorre

Lord I thank you for the gift of breath, eyes to see, ears to hear, tongue to taste, nose to smell; mouth to speak, face to smile, voice to sing, body to dance, legs to walk, mind to think and hands to write.

Lailah Gifty Akita

It takes persistent practice to be skilful in the act.

Lailah Gifty Akita

The written word is the greatest sacred documentation.

Lailah Gifty Akita

The written word is greatest sacred documentation.

Lailah Gifty Akita

One author said "I write because I want to live a footprint in the sands of history.” It's hard to live a footprint in the sands of history when giants are passing through the same sands unless you are one of the giants

Bangambiki Habyarimana

All of us possess a reading vocabulary as big as a lake but draw from a writing vocabulary as small as a pond. The good news is that the acts of searching and gathering always expand the number of usable words.

Roy Peter Clark

I used to be afraid about what people might say or think after reading what I had written. I am not afraid anymore, because when I write, I am not trying to prove anything to anyone, I am just expressing myself and my opinions. It’s ok if my opinions are different from those of the reader, each of us can have his own opinions. So writing is like talking, if you are afraid of writing, you may end up being afraid of talking

Bangambiki Habyarimana

I am not a supporter of burning books; but like poison, some books should be kept away from simple minds who can't take in the strong content they provide

Bangambiki Habyarimana

Don’t interrupt when your characters take a flight of their own.

Pawan Mishra

Cliches are the viruses that infect your writing with diseases.

Pawan Mishra

If you think there is no time to write now, there would never be.

Pawan Mishra

If certain aspect needs to be inconsistent, it must better be consistently inconsistent throughout the story.

Pawan Mishra

A writer gets to live yet another life every time she creates a new story.

Pawan Mishra

Writing a story is like going on a date—you will spoil it if you aren't living in the moment.

Pawan Mishra

Tell a story in lesser and simpler words.

Pawan Mishra

Don’t break the rules when you haven’t fully figured them out yet.

Pawan Mishra

Dreams are good at playing with your memory. They love leaving no trace behind and hate to show up once again in the morning.

Pawan Mishra

The good writing ideas don’t have to be about political turmoil, mass killings, capitalism, racism, injustice, etc. Find that one idea that has deep roots in your heart.

Pawan Mishra

Create a world in front of your readers where they can taste, smell, touch, hear, see, and move. Else they are likely going to move on to another book.

Pawan Mishra

A writer can do without food for a few hours, but not without the sight of books.

Pawan Mishra

Turn those deep feelings and obsessions of your heart into captivating pieces of literature.

Pawan Mishra

Ideas either age like fine wine or rot like potatoes over time.

Pawan Mishra

If you are a singer, you must sing. If you are a dancer, you must dance. If you are a writer, you must write. Don’t suffocate your heart.

Pawan Mishra

As you become a better writer, the writing becomes more difficult. You toil harder to tell a story in a lesser number of words.

Pawan Mishra

For a writer it was perhaps most important not to write, but to read. Read as much as you can because in so doing you won't lose yourselves, become unoriginal, what happens is the opposite, by doing this you'll find yourselves. The more you read, the better.

Karl Ove KnausgÃ¥rd

Some artists benefit less from being interviewed than they do from being left alone.

Mokokoma Mokhonoana

All forms of art are parallel expressions. Writing is not unlike painting or other artistic endeavors. Each artistic endeavor is an expression of the mystery of the world. The job of the artist is to deepen that mystery, express reverence for the mystery of life, and explore the enigmatic aspects of human nature.

Kilroy J. Oldster

Be a good reader first, if you wish to become a good writer.

Pawan Mishra

We write to strengthen our soul and the spirit of other souls.

Lailah Gifty Akita

Writing is not a hobby. It's the only way I get to shut up the demons in my head.

Mark Maish

Hypocrisy is our friend. Power structures have to pretend to hold values in order to win the loyalty of at least some of society. We can use the gap between those professed values and reality to move people to try to change the reality towards the values.

Justin Podur

The art of writing involves making as many cups of tea as you can in the time available for writing. Then adding extra time for writing...

Alan Dapre

Writing is like a lump of coal. Put it under enough pressure and polish it enough and you might just end up with a diamond. Otherwise, you can burn it to keep warm.

A.J. Dalton

Believe in yourself and start achieving your dream. It waits for you on the other side of the publish button.

Dan Alatorre

Honesty makes stories real and characters memorable. From there, taking them to where they need to go will be all the development they need.

Dan Alatorre

I take the rawest, realest moments in anyone’s life and I open them up and lay them bare. The innocence of a five year old child, the awkwardness of a teenager’s first sexual encounter, the heartbreak of longing for a relationship you can’t have, confronting the possibility of the death of your newborn child, whatever it is, you open your soul and put it out there and dare the world to read it, ready to have them stomp on you and laugh, but ready to do it again the next day. You have to put yourself out there as a writer, you can’t play it safe. Great writing isn’t safe.

Dan Alatorre

I don't imagine book elitists as my audience when writing. I dream about teachers, morticians and garbage men instead.

Justin Alcala

There are some writers who sweep us along so strongly in their current of energy--Normal mailer, Tom Wolfe, Toni Morrison, William F. Buckley, Jr., Hunter Thompson, David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers--that we assume that when they go to work the words just flow. Nobody thinks of the effort they made every morning to turn on the switch. You also have to turn on the switch. Nobody is going to do it for you.

William Zinsser

Manuscript rejections might tempt you to quit writing or querying. Don't.

T.N. Suarez

When people shine a little light on their monster, we find out how similar most of our monsters are.

Anne Lamott

It can be done. It will be done.

Lailah Gifty Akita

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Writing Advice Quotes - Page 10

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