My Favorite Quotes on Writing

 

Reading is like breathing in. Writing is like breathing out. Pam Allyn

When I encountered the above quote, I was immediately captivated, finding it concise and wise. I asked myself what were my favorite quotes regarding writing and, to supplement these, went through websites that collected pithy bits of wisdom. I present my selections below. 

The Obsession.

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster. Isaac Asimov

"It's Harder Not To." Carl Van Doren, when asked if it was hard to write.

What moves those of genius, what inspires their work is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough. Eugene Delacroix

On Getting On With It.

Start before you're ready.  Steven Pressfield

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. E. L. Doctorow

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down. Kurt Vonnegut

There's no such thing as writer's block. That was invented by people in California who couldn't write.  Terry Pratchett

Where Writing Comes From.

You want to tell a story? Grow a heart. Grow two. Now, with the second heart, smash the first one into bits. Charles Yu.

Our stories are the tellers of us. Chris Cleave

Tears are words that need to be written. Paulo Coelho

I write to discover what I know. Flannery O'Connor

Stories aren't made of language: they're made of something else... perhaps they're made of life. Philip Pullman

We are cups, quietly and constantly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.  Ray Bradbury

The Multiple Lives of Writers.

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect. Anaïs Nin

Writers live twice. Natalie Goldberg

Writers aren't people exactly. Or, if they're any good, they're a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.  F. Scott Fitzgerald

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. E.L. Doctorow

Rules. 

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. W. Somerset Maugham

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.

Mary Oliver

Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts. Harper Lee

The road to hell is indubitably paved with adverbs. paraphrasing Stephen King (I added the word indubitably.)

An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.  F. Scott Fitzgerald

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration. Ernest Hemingway

You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying in the road.  Richard Price

Ideas and Inspiration. 

If you wait for inspiration to write, you're not a writer, you're a waiter.  Dan Poynter

You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Maya Angelou

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. John Steinbeck

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.  Albert Einstein

Editing. 

The first draft is you just telling yourself the story.  Terry Pratchett

I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.  Shannon Hale

You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page.  Jodi Picoult

The secret of being a bore is to tell everything. Voltaire

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs 

is making a chore for the reader who reads.  Dr. Seuss

When you are describing a shape, or sound, or tint, 

don’t state the matter plainly, but put it in a hint. 

And learn to look at all things with a sort of mental squint.  Lewis Carroll

General Advice.

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live. Henry David Thoreau

A good story is a dream shared by the author and the reader. Anything that wakes the reader from the dream is a mortal sin. Victor J. Banis

You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows that they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.  Erin Morgenstern

As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand. Ernest Hemingway

You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant. Harlan Ellison

Easy reading is damn hard writing.  Nathaniel Hawthorne

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

If you get to like it, grammar reveals the hidden meaning of history, hides disorder and abandonment, links things and brings opposites together. Delphine de Vigan

I think life is too serious to be taken seriously. Ray Bradbury

Don't listen to writing advice and, most especially, don't listen to me. Martin Hill Ortiz

Miscellaneous.

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.  Groucho Marx

The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with. Marty Feldman

I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done.  Steven Wright

If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now while they're happy.  Dorothy Parker

The following sources have further quotes on writing and, on some occasions, longer versions of the above quotes.

Sources: 

https://www.inc.com/glenn-leibowitz/50-quotes-from-famous-authors-that-will-inspire-yo.html

https://www.audible.com/blog/quotes-writing

https://www.nicolemgulotta.com/blog/25-inspirational-quotes

https://storyempire.com/2021/09/24/quotes-on-writing-from-famous-writers/

https://getfreewrite.com/blogs/writing-success/55-motivational-writing-quotes?srsltid=AfmBOopI0czyArIVM-qCp3SIMDUd6PTPQ918RdhX-HwFP3oM1uKfKdxP

https://writergadgets.com/funny-writing-quotes/

https://www.bryndonovan.com/2020/10/26/20-funny-quotes-about-writing/

https://jerichowriters.com/99-quotes-about-writing-by-the-worlds-greatest-writers/

https://ronovanwrites.com/2016/05/19/16-quotes-of-for-writers-obsession/

me.

Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of several novels including most recently the thriller, Floor 24. 

Floor 24
Oliver-Heber Books

"From the mob underworld to the tops of new skyscrapers, Floor 24 is a heart-thumping New York 1920's historical mystery!" - Holly Newman, bestselling author of A Chance Inquiry mystery series.

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Three Writing Tips That I Don't Often See Elsewhere

It is easy to find a lot of guidance regarding writing. Choose strong verbs. Avoid adverbs. Swap out commonplace and indefinite words. These are valuable bits of advice, but they are spoken everywhere. Below, I present recommendations that I have encountered or developed over the years that I don't see at other writing sites. 

Never say yes. Never say no.

The following exchange of dialogue in the film L.A. Confidential changed my writing.

Bud White: The Night Owl case made you. Do you want to tear all that down?

Ed Exley: With a wrecking ball.

I'd seen the movie before and this time I watched in my writer's frame of mind. The question asked Ed Exley was yes or no. If he had answered, "yes," the screenplay would have missed a great opportunity to reveal character and add to the drama. 

The rule is: Given a yes/no question, don't have your character respond with "Yes" or "No."

 

Another example from L.A. Confidential.

Captain Dudley Smith: You'll do as I say, and ask no questions. Do you follow my drift?

Bud White: In technicolor, sir.

Isn't that so much better than answering yes or no? Even the brief appendage of "sir" adds to the character.

Did you know they tried to make it into a TV series?

Here are a couple of examples from my recent writing. Garret Belmont is a private eye, posing as a mold inspector. Ava Wellington isn't buying it.

Ava: "I notice you have handcuffs in your inside pocket," she said. "Mold inspector?" 

Garret: "I've had to handle some pretty tough fungi."

The same pair, shortly after.

Ava: "Are you the sort who prefers to play with words to other forms of recreation?"

Garret: "Crosswords don't bite."

Ava: "But I do."

Of course, this rule is not absolute. Sometimes I will have a character answer yes or no if that character has a motive to say the least possible. And you don't want to simply substitute a fancy word that means yes, like "indubitably"—unless you are writing a comic piece set in an Edwardian tearoom.

Fun fact: Say indubitably three times and you will grow a top hat.

Use the Thesaurus in Advance.

When you know you are going to write a scene with a specific setting or time, do your thesaurus work in advance. A graveyard at sunset. (These lists are incomplete, just here to give you an idea.)

Graveyard: burial grounds, churchyard, necropolis.

associated: grave, crypt, tomb, sepulcher, sarcophagus, catacomb, shrine, vault, tombstone, gravestone, grave marker. 

Sunset: dusk, nightfall, evening, eventide, gloaming, twilight, sundown.

associated: darkness, duskiness, dimness, gray, gloom, murkiness.

Having a cloud of words helps me create.

As a general rule of thumb: don't repeat the same word often, especially if they are weighty words that attract a lot of attention to themselves. The thesaurus choices help with that. Related rule: don't cycle through synonyms just for the sake of variety.

Learning how to use and tame the thesaurus is one of the talents that separates a novice writer from an expert. The word choices are the keys of the piano. Choose the right ones to construct your melody. Do not dump every complicated word into your text. 

End with a Bang.

Finish your sentences with a punch. You should place, at the end, a single word that delivers your message. Beyond considering the last word in a sentence, this should also be employed in the moments a sentence pauses through punctuation such as comma or semi-colon.

Here is the last word (or two) of the first seven lines of Hamlet's soliloquy (To be or not to be. . .). The final punch in each line delivers the theme and gravity, one reinforcing the next.

question

suffer

outrageous fortune

troubles

to sleep 

end

shocks

. . .

Or this from Macbeth:

tomorrow

day to day

recorded time

fools

brief candle

poor player

stage

tale

fury 

nothing.

Here are my own sentences: two versions.

That looks like a Ponzi scheme on steroids to me.

or 

That looks like a Ponzi scheme on steroids.

I often find that when one of my sentences sounds flaccid, I can reorder the words to end with a punch. It might be too much if every sentence ends with a whammy, but try out this recommendation when you want your writing to jab like Jake LaMotta.

For the above paragraph: flaccid (comma), punch (period), whammy (comma), Jake LaMotta (period).

Similar to this:

Put the punch-line at the end. This rule is derived from performing comedy. Don't finish a joke and then add words that the audience has to listen to when they should be laughing. Similarly, in mystery, if you are delivering a punch in a story, put the vital detail at the end of the statement (sentence, paragraph, or even chapter) so the reader has a moment to digest the startling revelation. 

This joke, attributed to various comedians, is classic and edgy.

When I go, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like the passengers on his bus.

It isn't until the final word that the mystery and the lethal edge are revealed. Compare this to the same joke, badly-constructed.

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not like his passengers who were screaming when his bus swerved off the road and killed them. 

The reveal comes early in the sentence, nevertheless, we are compelled to keep on reading.

If you have a little-known writing tip, please include it in the comments.

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October: National Don't Write a Novel Month

National Don't Write a Novel Month

The people over at National Novel Writing Month advocate that you write a novel over the course of November. Their motto is: The World Needs Your Novel. According to their website, over 500,000 participated in this event in 2015 alone. A word count of 50,000 words says your novel is done.

Here are the reasons to write a novel in one month:

1. James Patterson never takes more than a month to write a novel.

In contrast, here are the reasons to NOT write a novel in a month.

  This is a lie --> The World Needs Your Novel. <-- This is a lie.

The world does not need 500,000 novel novels each with 50,000 words. Writing agents and editors don't need 500,000 queries come December. Self-publishing venues DO NEED 500,000 novels but your relatives don't need ten copies each of  your quickly-crafted output.


My Vision.

The world needs well-written novels. For this reason, I am launching October as "Don't Write A Novel Month." Don't-Wa-No-Mo. Join over 320 million Americans and over 7.4 billion people worldwide who are not writing a novel in October.

Let's get this question out of the way: What if I am already writing a novel? Continue. Just don't start and finish a novel during October.

Writing Is a Serious Endeavor and Novels Are Not the Place to Start.

I love short novels. I advocate for them. The Great Gatsby, Slaughterhouse Five, The Daughter of Time, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and many others hover around the 50,000 word mark.

These novels did not take a month to write and no novel should be written in a month. Among writing projects, a novel is not the place to start. Stanley Ellin took a month to write each of his short stories and the patience and love shows. I enjoyed Stanely Ellin's short stories so much, I accidentally bought two short story collections by Stanley Elkin by mistake. (Idea: Change my name to James Puttersen.)

So you want to be a novelist.

Writing is a craft. It is not learned in a month or a year. A novelist is a cabinet-maker. With years of practice and dedication, you can make a cabinet that looks like this:

Fine craftsmanship

Or you can be proud of your IKEA I-can-slap-cork-boards-together skills.

Or you can come up with this.

Why Doesn't Mine Look Like The Picture?

But, you say, writing a novel isn't like making a cabinet: it's like constructing a building. You can take your time and with diligence and practice and more than a month's worth of effort you can design this building.

Or you can take a month and come up with this.

New Windows for an Old Building

Or this:

The key problem: Americans are taught they are special. Every advertisement, every attentive lie tells them the individual matters. Therefore, the individual concludes: what I say must also be important.

Alright, you do matter. But mattering is not a talent, and mattering is not even an accomplishment. (I was-a born in the USA! I nailed that landing!) Having something to say is not a talent. Saying it well is a talent. Writing is a talent. Learning a craft takes time and once that craft is learned, practicing it takes time. Promoting writing a novel in one month is like advocating a two-day health plan or sixty-second sex.

Poor writing is pollution. It stings the eyes. It interferes with the inhalation of life-giving beautiful prose. It clutters the mind. It creates a wasteland of unedited books that spray like skunk farts on the body of literature. It convinces its readers, victims, all of them, that literature is painful or boring to read. It insults those who take the craft seriously.

The challenge to write-a-lot is a poorly conceived proposition. Write well. Practice and in time you can express those stories locked inside you.

Don't write a novel in October. And, if I haven't yet convinced you of abandoning the one-month idea altogether, you can always write a novel in November.


Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble 

Martin Hill Ortiz is also the author of A Predator's Game. His epic poem, Two Mistakes, recently won second place in the Margaret Reid/Tom Howard Poetry Competition. He can be contacted at mdhillortiz@gmail.com.

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