The Process Quotes

Never underestimate the power of the written word, especially when you put them down in your own voice.

There's no rule for better writing. Make your own rules, and see what works best for you.

Give the reader what they want, just not the way they expect it.

Creating a novel means moving into the past, the hoped for, the imagined. It is an emotional journey, fraught at times with characters who don't always do or say what a writer wishes.

Even at the moment when the last page is turned, a great part of the book, its finer detail, is already vague and doubtful. A little later, after a few days or months, how much is really left of it?

Develop the skill of writing to avoid errors but if you do make them, don’t be demotivated

Attention and focus are essential skills for writers in a noise-filled world.

My dear Keats go on, don't despair, collect incidents, study characters, read Shakespeare and trust in Providence.

Writing's in the nouns.

I do not put in long hours at the keys - or very seldom. Instead, I snatch time. I write in the crannies of my life.

We humans are the only creatures on the planet capable of articulating worlds which are contrary, even in the most minor way, to reality. Every story, I think, begins there. With a dream. A fantasy.

To write is to transform that inward gaze into words, to study the worlds into which we pass when we retire into ourselves, and to do so with patience, obstinacy, and joy.

When we make time to write, we can do it anytime, anywhere.

Grab for time to write instead of wait for time.

To unlock the writer's block is to keep writing until you can unknot the "not". If you cannot, then put a can in the plot and unwrap it a lot!

Attributing to another author, "Writing a novel is like setting a goal and walking there in your sleep.

Never use the passive voice. Do not say, 'It will get done.' Say, 'I'll do it, ' and then stick to a solid, unwavering deadline

You haven't seen yourself until you look through the eyes of your characters.~Tanela Hicks

You haven't seen yourself until you look through the eyes of your characters."~Tanela Hicks

You haven't seen yourself until you look through the eyes of your characters.

It’s amazing how my mind opens up right when I have to run on the treadmill. I’ve finished three chapters rather than run a mile.

They say a picture's worth a thousand words, but with me it always ends up being well over a hundred thousand.

You must write as if each word is a precious drop of blood, or a tear to be saved in a glass phial.

It was a dark and stormy night. . .perfect for staying indoors and writing a novel!

When you know what you want to communicate, ask yourself: Who is my audience and what does he know about the subject?

Begin at the beginning as you understood it, proceed through the middle, continue to the end, and then stop, " said Master Li, and he sauntered out to get drunk....

Writing is hard work. Attempting to write a decent story is friggin exhausting!

Getting started on writing a book isn't as hard as it sounds. You don't need a plan and an outline. In fact, all you need are two things: time and one idea.

Now the thing is no longer a vision: it is paper.

Developing your voice takes... time and practice.

In the last analysis, most of our difficulties come from losing contact with our instincts, with the age-old forgotten wisdom stored up in us.

The worst part of writing is meeting all these great new characters and having no one to talk about (the adventures you share with) them.

Writing is easy. Writing a publishable book is hard.

A simple word or phrase on a blank sheet of paper gathers momentum as I wonder at what it could mean, where it could take place, why, and what if? . . . And then, I write.

Writing as a creative art flourishes only when there are no rules. Rules stifle you from entering the silent and forbidden spaces where the core of the story is waiting to be revealed.

Fiction is a careful combination of observation, inspiration, and imagination.

There are three difficulties in authorship: – to write anything worth publishing - to find honest men to publish it - and to get sensible men to read it. — Caleb C. Colton [1780-1832]

Successful journals break the deadlock of introspective obsession

Writing to impress others is the surest path to pretentious mediocrity.

And now, I have another good reason to speed up my baby narratives to make my author's profile appear more respectable.

I only write when the spirit moves me ... and the spirit moves me every day. William Faulkner, Oxford, Mississippi

The nerve which controls the pen winds itself about every fibre of our being, threads the heart, pierces the liver.

Sometimes in fiction you had to mute reality in order to make it seem more believable.

There is a difference between fresh and weird. You never want to throw your reader out of the story. Keep it fresh but natural.

If you don’t make time for writing, writing won’t make time for you.

Writings are thoughts in a defined moment.

Writing is easy. Saying something that would make a difference is the task.

And as your writing evolves, what you need and get from it evolves.

Do what you love...

Briefer is better, so learn to write tight