Writing Process quotes
Welcome to our Writing Process quotes page! Here you will find a collection of insightful and inspiring quotes that delve into the creative journey of writers. Whether you are an aspiring writer seeking guidance or a seasoned author looking for motivation, these quotes will surely resonate with you.
The writing process is a unique and personal experience for each individual. It can be both exhilarating and daunting, filled with moments of doubt, triumph, and self-discovery. Our curated selection of quotes encompasses the various aspects of the writing journey - from the initial spark of an idea to the final polishing of a manuscript.
As you explore this page, you will encounter quotes from renowned authors, poets, and thinkers who have grappled with the challenges and joys of writing. Their words offer insights into the creative process, the struggles faced, the discipline required, and the rewards that come with expressing oneself through words.
So, whether you're seeking inspiration, guidance, or simply a sense of camaraderie with fellow writers, we invite you to peruse these thought-provoking quotes and embrace the beauty and complexity of the Writing Process.
Kathryn Stockett
— NovelistI started writing it the day after Sept. 11. I was living in New York City. We didnt have any phone service and we didnt have any mail. Like a lot of writers do, I started to write in a voice that I missed.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorThough I am never exactly "blocked" I do have difficult periods. I am led by a fascination with material - the challenge of presenting it in an original and engaging way. I have no problem imagining stories, characters, distinctive settings & themes - but the difficulty is choosing a voice & a language in which to present it.
Jorge Luis Borges
— WriterWhen I write, I do it urged by an intimate necessity. I don't have in mind an exclusive public, or a public of multitudes, I don't think in either thing. I think about expressing what I want to say. I try to do it in the simplest way possible.
Jim Grimsley
— NovelistFor me, writing plays is far more an act of the mind than of the emotions. It's a very different kind of impulse than fiction writing.
E. B. White
— Versatile Writer & Author of Beloved ClassicsThere is no trick to it. If you like to write and want to write, you write, no matter where you are or what else you are doing or whether anyone pays any heed.
Russell Hoban
— Versatile Author & Creative StorytellerWhen I write a book, I don't have a plan or an outline. The characters move the action, and the action develops the characters. When I write a book, I become an actor, really, taking the role of the person who is speaking or acting at the time, and so their reactions to whatever they see are my reactions.
Jeff Pinkner
— Acclaimed Screenwriter & ProducerWhat's actually amazing is that, after a couple of years of living with characters and writing characters and talking about characters, as we sit in the writers room and break episodes, it strikes you, every once in awhile, that you're talking about a character that's played by the same actor, who you've been talking about forever. We talk about a character dying, so you get emotional, and then you realize, "Oh, but wait, that actor is still on the show."
Ed McBain
— American author and screenwriterDepending on what I'm working on, I come to the writing desk with entirely different mindsets. When I change form one to the other, it's as if another writer is on the scene.
Lindy West
— American writer, comedian and activistI've been doing short-form writing for a decade, and six years ago I signed with an agent, and we've been working on figuring out what my book would be. I was always so embarrassed that it took me so long to figure it out, but I think, in retrospect, I just wasn't ready to write a book six years ago. I wasn't confident enough as a writer and I wasn't coherent enough in my worldview. It just took this long for me to be a mature enough writer and be ready to do it.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorThough I revise constantly as I write, I will usually revise much of the work again after I've reached the ending.
Jorge Luis Borges
— WriterWhen I feel I'm going to write something, then I just am quiet and I try to listen. Then something comes through. And I do what I can in order not to tamper with it.
E. B. White
— Versatile Writer & Author of Beloved ClassicsI always write a thing first and think about it afterward, which is not a bad procedure because the easiest way to have consequential thoughts is to start putting them down.
Joyce Carol Oates
— Author'A Fair Maiden' existed in notes and sketches for perhaps a year. When I traveled, I would take along with me my folder of notes - 'ideas for stories.' Eventually, I began to write it and wrote it fairly swiftly - in perhaps two months of fairly intense writing and rewriting. Most of my time writing is really re-writing.
Jorge Luis Borges
— WriterA writer's work is the product of laziness.
E. B. White
— Versatile Writer & Author of Beloved ClassicsThe whole duty of a writer is to please and satisfy himself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorI don't feel I write fast. I write in longhand and do so much revision. On the page, it's so old-fashioned. I could write a whole novel on scrap paper, scribbles and things. I keep looking at it and something develops. For me, using a word processor would mean staring at a screen for too many hours.
Jorge Luis Borges
— WriterHad I to give advice to writers (and I do not think they need it, because everyone has to find out things for himself), I would tell them simply this; I would ask them to tamper as little as they can with their own work. I do not think tinkering does any good. The moment comes when one has found out what one can do - when one has found one's natural voice, one's rhythm. Then I do not think that slight emendations should prove useful.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorWhen writing goes painfully, when it’s hideously difficult, and one feels real despair (ah, the despair, silly as it is, is real!)–then naturally one ought to continue with the work; it would be cowardly to retreat. But when writing goes smoothly–why then one certainly should keep on working, since it would be stupid to stop. Consequently one is always writing or should be writing.
Jorge Luis Borges
— WriterAlthough I'm very lazy when it comes to writing, I'm not that lazy when it comes to thinking. I like to develop the plan of a short story, then cut it as short as possible, try to evolve all the necessary details. I know far more about the characters than what actually comes out of the writing.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorWhen I'm really involved or getting towards the end of a novel, I can write for up to ten hours a day. At those times, it's as though I'm writing a letter to someone I'm desperately in love with.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorBefore you can write a novel you have to have a number of ideas that come together. One idea is not enough.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorThe first sentence cant be written until the final sentence is written.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorNovels begin, not on the page, but in meditation and day-dreaming - In thinking, not writing.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorPeople might be surprised to know how much I throw away. For every page I publish, I throw 10 pages away.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorGetting the first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorProductivity is a relative matter. And it's really insignificant: What is ultimately important is a writer's strongest books. It may be the case that we all must write many books in order to achieve a few lasting ones - just as a young writer or poet might have to write hundreds of poems before writing his first significant one.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorI write in longhand and assemble lots of notes, and then I try to collate them into a coherent chronology. It's like groping along in the dark. I like writing and find it challenging, but I don't find it easy.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorMy own way of writing is very meditated and, despite my reputation, rather slow-moving. So I do spend a good deal of time contemplating endings. The final ending is usually arrived at simply by intuition.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorA writer can't subtract or excise any of his/her past because doing so would erase the work produced during that time.