Young Writers Quotes

• 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

  Friendship, Happy, Writing

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• 

  Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.

  Samuel Beckett

  Inspirational, Motivational, Encouraging

  1983 Worst ward Ho.

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• Don't write about Man; write about a man.

  E. B. White

  Writing, Men

  E. B. WHITE (1954). “The SECOND TREE from the CORNER”

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• The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis, and we'd have a mighty dull literature if all the writers that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads.

  William Styron

  Writing, Age, Literature

  William Styron, James L. W. West (1985). “Conversations with William Styron”, p.19, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• A young musician plays scales in his room and only bores his family. A beginning writer, on the other hand, sometimes has the misfortune of getting into print.

  Marguerite Yourcenar

  Writing, Hands, Play

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• Every writer I know has trouble writing.

  Joseph Heller

  Writing, Trouble, Knows

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

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• The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis.

  William Styron

  Writing, Age, Neurosis

  William Styron, James L. W. West (1985). “Conversations with William Styron”, p.19, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

  Ray Bradbury

  Inspirational, Writing, Reality

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• They say great themes make great novels. but what these young writers don't understand is that there is no greater theme than men and women.

  John O'Hara

  Men, Theme, Novel

  John O'Hara (1977). “"An artist is his own fault": John O'Hara on writers and writing”, Southern Illinois University

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• A young writer is easily tempted by the allusive and ethereal and ironic and reflective, but the declarative is at the bottom of most good writing.

  Garrison Keillor

  Writing, Ironic, Bottom

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• I think the essence of the argument has always been, first of all, the Guild doesn't want writing on spec. And that's been a major problem over the years. But obviously, to the young writer that's unfair and it's discriminatory, and it can be very hurtful to one's career.

  Rod Serling

  Writing, Thinking, Years

  Source: www.rodserling.com

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• Productivity 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

  Book, Writing, Order

  Joyce Carol Oates, Lee Milazzo (1989). “Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates”, p.63, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.

  Lillian Hellman

  Inspirational, Writing, Talking

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• There is no satisfactory explanation of style, no infallible guide to good writing, no assurance that a person who thinks clearly will be able to write clearly, no key that unlocks the door, no inflexible rules by which the young writer may steer his course. He will often find himself steering by stars that are disturbingly in motion.

  E. B. White

  Stars, Writing, Thinking

  William Strunk, Jr., E. B. White (1972). “The Elements of Style”

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• Write a lot. And I mean a ridiculous amount. You have to write so much that you don't mind throwing away and changing things that you've written - which is the second thing you have to do. A lot of young writers are very precious about their words. Don't be - you've got to be ready to burn stuff. You're not as good as you think you are, at least not yet. The more you write, the faster you'll write, and the less you'll mind throwing stuff out.

  Josh Lieb

  Mean, Writing, Thinking

  "Wanna write for Latenight? Get tips from a 'Tonight Show' producer". Interview with Kat Rosenfield, www.mtv.com. April 05, 2015.

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• Young writers should read books past bedtime and write things down in notebooks when they are supposed to be doing something else.

  Daniel Handler

  Notebook, Writing, Past

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• Best masters for the young writer and speaker are the fault- finding brothers and sisters at home who will not spare him, but willpick and cavil, and tell the odious truth.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Brother, Home, Fault Finding

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Waldo Emerson, Waldo Emerson Forbes (1914). “Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1820-1872 [1876] Ed”

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• I think being an editor really helped me take other people's notes on my writing. I'd get a note like 'It's too wet' or 'The first couple chapters are good, but then the rest of the pages were so wet that they were completely illegible' or 'Did you dip this in Sprite? This smells like Sprite. Why would you dip your novel in Sprite?' And instead of pushing back, I'd listen. That's an incredibly important skill for a young writer to have.

  Toni Morrison

  Couple, Writing, Thinking

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• Advice to young writers? Always the same advice: learn to trust our own judgment, learn inner independence, learn to trust that time will sort the good from the bad– including your own bad.

  Doris Lessing

  Advice, Independence, Judgment

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• Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.

  William Faulkner

  Mistake, Believe, Writing

  "William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12". Interview with Jean Stein, www.theparisreview.org. 1956.

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• The young writer should learn to spot them: words that at first glance seem freighted with delicious meaning, but that soon burst in the air, leaving nothing but a memory of bright sound.

  E. B. White

  Memories, Air, Leaving

  William Strunk Jr., E.B. White (1962). “the Elements of Style”

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• Artists don't talk about art. Artists talk about work. If I have anything to say to young writers, it's stop thinking of writing as art. Think of it as work.

  Paddy Chayefsky

  Art, Writing, Thinking

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• The worst advice a young writer can get is "Write what you know." Imagination is more important than experience.

  Joe Haldeman

  Writing, Imagination, Advice

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• A lot of young writers are very precious about their words. Don't be - you've got to be ready to burn stuff. You're not as good as you think you are, at least not yet.

  Josh Lieb

  Thinking, Stuff, Ready

  Source: www.mtv.com

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• When I was a young writer if you went to a party and told somebody you were a science-fiction writer you would be insulted. They would call you Flash Gordon all evening, or Buck Rogers.

  Ray Bradbury

  Party, Evening, Would Be

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