“Never begin the book when you feel you want to begin it, but hold off a while longer.”

-Rose Tremain

.

.

.

“Live life and write about life. Of the making of many books there is ­indeed no end, but there are more than enough books about books.”

-Will Self

.

.

.

“The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator.”

-Jonathan Franzen

.

.

.

“For too long, the act of printing something in and of itself has been placed on too high a pedestal. The true value of an object lies in what it says, not its mere existence.”

-Craig Mod

.

.

.

“Graham Greene famously wrote 500 words a day. Jean Plaidy managed 5,000 before lunch, then spent the afternoon answering fan mail. My minimum is 1,000 words a day – which is sometimes easy to achieve, and is sometimes, frankly, like shitting a brick, but I will make myself stay at my desk until I’ve got there, because I know that by doing that I am inching the book forward.”

-Sarah Waters

.

“Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all…”

-Geoff Dyer

.

.

.

However carved up
or pared down we get,
we keep on making
the best of it as though
it doesn’t matter that
our acre’s down to
a square foot. As
though our garden
could be one bean
and we’d rejoice if
………………………………it flourishes, as
………………………………though one bean
………………………………could nourish us.

-Kay Ryan

“Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn’t matter how “real” your story is, or how “made up”: what matters is its necessity.”

-Anne Enright

.

.

Debut novelist Helen Simonson strikes golden-years gold in MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND.

USA Today proclaims HOUSE RULES as one of Jodi Picoult’s best.

Drive alongside the Great Wall with journalist Peter Hessler in COUNTRY DRIVING: A JOURNEY THROUGH CHINA FROM FARM TO FACTORY.

Professor Sheena Iyengar diagrams THE ART OF CHOOSING and sheds insight on why we do what we do.

“A lot of people I know can identify with a character who has at least a medium dose of self-loathing.  I prefer to write about characters who are very conflicted and filled with a strangely undefined sense of shame and inadequacy that puts them into troubling positions when they have to inflict themselves upon the world.”

-Sam Lipsyte

.

.

“If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to ­music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space.”

-Hilary Mantel

.

“Talent trumps all. If you’re a ­really great writer, none of these rules need apply.”

-Sarah Waters

.

.

.

“Writing is work. It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan.”

-Margaret Atwood

.

.

.

“Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.”

-Joyce Carol Oates

.

.

.

“Ted Hughes gave me this advice and it works wonders: record moments, fleeting impressions, overheard dialogue, your own sadnesses and bewilderments and joys.”

-Michael Morpurgo

.

.

.

“You don’t always have to go so far as to murder your darlings – those turns of phrase or images of which you felt extra proud when they appeared on the page – but go back and look at them with a very beady eye.”

-Diana Athill

.

.

On dedication to the craft: “Remember, if you sit at your desk for 15 or 20 years, every day, not ­counting weekends, it changes you. It just does. It may not improve your temper, but it fixes something else. It makes you more free.”

-Anne Enright

.

.

.

“Do change your mind. Good ideas are often murdered by better ones.”

-Roddy Doyle

.

.

.

“Remember you love writing. It wouldn’t be worth it if you didn’t. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back. Remember writing doesn’t love you. It doesn’t care. Nevertheless, it can behave with remarkable generosity. Speak well of it, encourage others, pass it on.”

-AL Kennedy

.

.

“Being a writer in Hollywood is like going into Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest with a great idea for a Bar Mitzvah.”

-David Mamet

.

.

.