Good writing Quotes

“Some of my favorite movies are action movies. You want something good to say. That comes from good writing. But writing is not a skill I possess, unfortunately.”

“Write at a pace that doesn't surpass your creative flow. Don't be hasty; don't be sloppy. Don't forfeit impressive writing for an impressive word count. Because eventually it will all have to be edited, and you'll find that it is harder to make bad writing good than to make good writing better.”

“A writer’s life is half ambition and half anxiety, and there has to be both. It is no good writing a novel and feeling fine, and it is no good writing a whole novel feeling miserable. It has to be both, that mixture of anxiety and ambition, and you get that with every novel, but more so when you write about these epics of human suffering. I felt that just as much when I wrote about the Gulag. Every writer knows what that is. The process goes… you have to think: ‘This novel I am writing is no good.’ Then you have to think: ‘All my novels are no good.’ And then, when you reach that point, you can begin.”

“Good writing is like a windowpane.”

“There are many rules of good writing, but the best way to find them is to be a good reader.”

“Good writing is good writing, whatever form it takes and whatever we call it.”

“Good writing excites me, and makes life worth living.”

“Just as a good rain clears the air, a good writing day clears the psyche.”

“There is really only one way to learn good writing: good reading and extensive writing and revising.”