Quotes about Writing: S

No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind. ~ Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite right noun when the right noun is available? ~ William Safire
Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that agreat deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
~ William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"
Writing is just having a sheet of paper, a pen and not a shadow of an idea of what you are going to say. ~ Francoise Sagan
A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public eye with his pants down. ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

Art is the manipulation of someone else's imagination. ~ Sol Saks
The trade of authorship is a violent, and indestructible obsession. ~ George Sand
Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work. ~ Carl Sandburg
A writer lives, at best, in a state of astonishment. Beneath any feeling he has of the good or evil of the world lies a deeper one of wonder at it all. ~ William Sansom
Words are weapons. ~ George Santayana
The most solid advice . . . for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell, and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough. ~ William Saroyan
Words are loaded pistols. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. ~ Marilyn vos Savant
The English language has a deceptive air of simplicity; so have some little frocks; but they are both not the kind of thing you can run up in half an hour with a machine. ~ Dorothy L. Sayers
Engrave this in your brain: EVERY WRITER GETS REJECTED. You will be no different. ~ John Scalzi
Clarity in language depends on clarity in thought. ~ Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
He who writes carelessly confesses that he does not attach much importance to his own thoughts. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
The first rule for a good style is to have something to say; in fact, this in itself is almost enough. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think. ~ Edwin Schlossberg
Resist the temptation to try to use dazzling style to conceal weakness of substance. ~ Stanley Schmidt

Don't mistake a good setup for a satisfying conclusion -- many beginning writers end their stories when the real story is just ready to begin. ~ Stanley Schmidt
Resist the temptation to try to use dazzling style to conceal weakness of substance. ~ Stanley Schmidt
To grow in craft is to increase the breadth of what I can do, but art is the depth, the passion, the desire, the courage to be myself and myself alone. ~ Pat Schneider
I don't think it's very useful to open wide the door for young artists; the ones who break down the door are more interesting. ~ Paul Schrader
If you don't know it, don't write it. ~ Darrell Schweitzer
Writing isn't generally a lucrative source of income; only a few, exceptional writers reach the income levels associated with the best-sellers. Rather, most of us write because we can make a modest living, or even supplement our day jobs, doing something about which we feel passionately. Even at the worst of times, when nothing goes right, when the prose is clumsy and the ideas feel stale, at least we're doing something that we genuinely love. There's no other reason to work this hard, except that love. ~ Melissa Scott
Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space. ~ Orson Scott Card

Writing gives you the illusion of control, and then you realise it�s just an illusion, that people are going to bring their own stuff into it. ~ David Sedaris
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. ~ Seneca (3 BC - 65 AD)
Everything stinks till it's finished. ~ Dr Seuss
Suit the action to the word, the word to the action. ~ William Shakespeare
And as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, the poet's pen turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothings a local habitation and a name. ~ William Shakespeare
Every novelist has a different purpose--and often several purposes which might even be contradictory. ~ Irwin Shaw
An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself. ~ Irwin Shaw
Literature is like any other trade; you will never sell anything unless you go to the right shop. ~ George Bernard Shaw

You must not suppose, because I am a man of letters, that I never tried to earn an honest living. ~ George Bernard Shaw
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. ~ George Bernard Shaw
The road to ignorance is paved with good editors. ~ George Bernard Shaw
A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for. ~ John Shedd
Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well. ~ John Sheffield
Usually, when people get to the end of a chapter, they close the book and go to sleep. I deliberately write a book so when the reader gets to the end of the chapter, he or she must turn one more page. When people tell me I've kept them up all night, I feel like I've succeeded. ~ Sidney Sheldon
A blank piece of paper is God's way of telling us how hard it to be God. ~ Sidney Sheldon

I hate a style, as I do a garden, that is wholly flat and regular; that slides along like an eel, and never rises to what one can call an inequality. ~ William Shenstone
The first step is to find out what you love -- and don't be practical about it. The second step is to start doing what you love immediately, in any small way possible. I've seen what happens to people when they get to do what they love. They light up. They glow. They have a kind of energy that's wonderful. ~ Barbara Sher
The great thing about revision is that it's your opportunity to fake being brilliant. ~ Will Shetterly
Moving around is good for creativity: the next line of dialogue that you desperately need may well be waiting in the back of the refrigerator or half a mile along your favorite walk. ~ Will Shetterly
It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all. ~ Will Shetterly
There are no rules in writing. There are useful principles. Throw them away when they're not useful. But always know what you're throwing away. ~ Will Shetterly
I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters. ~ Solomon Short
An author must learn the principles of good storytelling only in order to write better from the heart. ~ Uri Shulevitz

Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has never been set up a statue in honor of a critic. ~ Jean Sibelius
You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try. ~ Beverly Sills
Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. ~ Georges Simonen
I write fast, because I have not the brains to write slow. ~ Georges Simenon
The wastebasket is a writer's best friend. ~ Isaac Singer
Children read books, not reviews. They don't give a hoot about critics. ~ Isaac Singer
When I was a little boy, they called me a liar, but now that I am grown up, they call me a writer. ~ Isaac Singer
Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. The chasm is never completely bridged. We all have the conviction, perhaps illusory, that we have much more to say than appears on the paper. ~ Isaac Singer

Stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. But not necessarily in that order. ~ Robert Silverberg
Reading and weeping opens the door to one's heart, but writing and weeping opens the window to one's soul. ~ M. K. Simmons
The misuse of language induces evil in the soul. ~ Socrates
To write successful dialogue the author must have access to the mind of all his characters, but the reader must not perceive any more than he would in real life. ~ William Sloane
There is, however, a tentative rule that pertains to all fiction dialogue. It must do more than one thing at a time or it is too inert for the purposes of fiction. This may sound harsh, but I consider it an essential discipline. ~ William Sloane
Like real people, [characters] talk. But they are not real people and their talk cannot be transcriptions of real talk. There is not room enough in a novel for the way people really talk. ~ William Sloane
Try reading your own dialogue aloud sometime to see if it is sayable. ~ William Sloane
The whole idea is not to duplicate dialect but to suggest it. ~ William Sloane

Imaginative writing has always been a solitary and indeed a somewhat antisocial activity. Apprenticeship existed, no doubt, but it was an apprenticeship to books and not to living masters of the craft. ~ Madison Smartt Bell
Even if my marriage is falling apart and my children are unhappy, there is still a part of me that says, 'God, this is fascinating! ~ Jane Smiley
I'd rather be caught holding up a bank than stealing so much as a two-word phrase from another writer. ~ Jack Smith
A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. ~ Sidney Smith
In composing, as a general rule, run a pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style. ~ Sydney Smith
The main question to a novel is - Did it amuse? Were you surprised at dinner coming so soon? Did you mistake eleven for ten? were you too late to dress? and did you sit up beyond the usual hour? If a novel produces these effects, it is good; if it does not - story, language, love, scandal itself cannot save it. It is only meant to please; and it must do that or it does nothing. ~ Sydney Smith
A writer's duty is to register what it is like for him or her to be in the world. ~ Zadie Smith
Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to popular belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young. ~ William Somerset Maugham
It is well to remember that grammar is common speech formulated. ~ William Somerset Maugham

To write simply is as difficult as to be good. ~ William Somerset Maugham
The writer is more concerned to know than to judge. ~ William Somerset Maugham
Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young. ~ William Somerset Maugham
The best style is the style you don't notice. ~ William Somerset Maugham
It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer. ~ William Somerset Maugham
A good style should show no signs of effort. What is written should seem a happy accident. ~ William Somerset Maugham
All the words I use in my stories can be found in the dictionary -- it's just a matter of arranging them into the right sentences. ~ William Somerset Maugham
If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn't matter a damn how you write. ~ William Somerset Maugham
There are three rules for writing. Unfortunately, no one can agree what they are. ~ William Somerset Maugham
We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to. ~ William Somerset Maugham

Reading usually precedes writing and the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer. ~ Susan Sontag
Why wouldn't you write to escape yourself as much as you might write to express yourself? It's far more interesting to write about others. ~ Susan Sontag
I don�t write easily or rapidly. My first draft usually has only a few elements worth keeping. I have to find what those are and build from them and throw out what doesn�t work, or what simply is not alive. ~ Susan Sontag
You can only write, 'Somebody wants something, something else is in their way of getting it.' ~ Aaron Sorkin
By writing much, one learns to write well. ~ Robert Southey
It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. ~ Robert Southey
The first chapter sells the book. The last chapter sells the next book. ~ Mickey Spillane
If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes. ~ Mickey Spillane

Avoid theatrical flourishes � the phrases that sound so damned good that they stand up and beg to be recognized as "good writing," and therefore must be struck from the text. ~ Donald Spoto
In writing a series of stories about the same characters, plan the whole series in advance in some detail, to avoid contradictions and inconsistencies. ~ L. Sprague de Camp
There is no mistaking the dismay on the face of a writer who has just heard that his brain child is a deformed idiot. ~ L. Sprague de Camp
People are certainly impressed by the aura of creative power which a writer may wear, but can easily demolish it with a few well-chosen questions. Bob Shaw has observed that the deadliest questions usually come as a pair: "Have you published anything?" � loosely translated as: I've never heard of you � and "What name do you write under?" � loosely translatable as: I've definitely never heard of you. ~ Brian Stableford
The vital point to remember is that the swine who just sent your pearl of a story back with nothing but a coffee-stain and a printed rejection slip can be wrong. You cannot take it for granted that he is wrong, but you have an all-important margin of hope that might be enough to keep you going. ~ Brian Stableford

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. ~ Richard Steel
Hard writing makes easy reading. ~ Wallace Stegner
A reader�s emotions can be sparked with few words. That�s the power of dialogue. ~ Sol Stein
Dialogue is a lean language in which every word counts. ~ Sol Stein
Most of the time, tough, combative, adversarial dialogue is much more exciting than physical action. ~ Sol Stein
Dialogue, contrary to popular view, is not a recording of actual speech; it is a semblance of speech, an invented language of exchanges that build in tempo or content toward climaxes. ~ Sol Stein
Readers take in dialogue one thought at a time. A frequent mistake of beginners is to combine thoughts, which may be suitable for other forms of writing but not for dialogue. Another mistake is speechifying. Three sentences at a time is tops, yet many beginners write speeches that go on and on. ~ Sol Stein
To create tension, dialogue needs to be stretched out. That is, characters should not be immediately responsive. ~ Sol Stein

The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business. ~ John Steinbeck
I don�t think there is a single sentence in this whole book [East of Eden] that does not either develop character, carry on the story or provide necessary background. ~ John Steinbeck
To finish is a sadness to a writer - a little death. He puts the last word down and it is done. But it isn't really done. The story goes on and leaves the writer behind, for no story is ever done. ~ John Steinbeck
They must be real people. And this means that every word in every line of speech must be accurate and full of some kind of meaning which stretches not only forward in the book but stems from before in the book. ~ John Steinbeck
I do want to make it very convincing. And the best way to do that is to put most of it in dialogue. ~ John Steinbeck
Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. ~ John Steinbeck
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true. ~ John Steinbeck
I do not like to write - I like to have written. ~ Gloria Steinem
A novel is a mirror walking along the main road. ~ Stendhal
I see but one rule: to be clear. ~ Stendhal

Originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself. ~ James F. Stephan
Writing, when properly managed (as you may be sure I think mine is), is but a different name for conversation. ~ Laurence Sterne
What's hard, in hacking as in fiction, is not writing, it's deciding what to write. ~ Neal Stephenson
An editor is someone who separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the chaff. ~ Adlai Stevenson
All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
No human being ever spoke of scenery for above two minutes at a time, which makes me suspect that we hear too much of it in literature. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Don't write merely to be understood. Write so that you cannot possibly be misunderstood. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
When I say writing, O believe me, it is rewriting that I have chiefly in mind. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
When rewriting, move quickly. It's a little like cutting your own hair. ~ Robert Stone
I write plays because dialogue is the most respectable way of contradicting myself. ~ Tom Stoppard
Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little. ~ Tom Stoppard
Every exit is an entry somewhere else. ~ Tom Stoppard
I write fiction because it's a way of making statements I can disown. ~ Tom Stoppard
Fantasy flows in where fact leaves a vacuum. ~ Tom Stoppard
Whether or not you write well, write bravely ~ Bill Stout
Like everyone else, I am going to die. But the words � the words live on for as long as there are readers to see them, audiences to hear them. It is immortality by proxy. It is not really a bad deal, all things considered. ~ J. Michael Straczynski

When in doubt, blow something up. ~ J. Michael Straczynski
The only two kinds of books could earn an American writer a living are cookbooks and detective novels. ~ Rex Stout
Perhaps of all the creations of man language is the most astonishing. ~ Lytton Strachey
I wish I could be like Shaw who once read a bad review of one of his plays, called the critic and said: 'I have your review in front of me and soon it will be behind me'. ~ Barbara Streisand
Every writer must acknowledge and be able to handle the unalterable fact that he has, in effect, given himself a life sentence in solitary confinement. The ordinary world of work is closed to him -- and that if he's lucky! ~ Peter Straub
Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it. ~ Jesse Stuart
Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. ~ William Strunk, Jr.
A science fiction story is a story with a human problem, and a human solution, that would not have happened at all without its scientific content. ~ Theodore Sturgeon

I get a fine warm feeling when I'm doing well, but that pleasure is pretty much negated by the pain of getting started each day. Let's face it, writing is hell. ~ William Styron
A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. ~ William Styron
The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis, and we'd have a mighty dull literature if all the writers that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads. ~ William Styron
It's not plagiarism - I'm recycling words, as any good environmentally conscious writer would do. ~ Uniek Swain
The drama, like the symphony, does not teach or prove anything. ~ J. M. Synge
I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time. ~ Herbert Bayard Swope
Whatever inspiration is, it's born from a continuous "I don't know. ~ Wislawa Szymborska

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