...Quotes on Reading, Writing @ Literature...

bianglala

"In the most basic way, writers are defined not by the stories they tell, or their politics, or their gender, or their race, but by the words they use. Writing begins with language, and it is in that initial choosing, as one sifts through the wayward lushness of our wonderful mongrel English, that choice of vocabulary and grammar and tone, the selection on the palette, that determines who's sitting at that desk. Language creates the writer's attitude toward the particular story he's decided to tell."

DONALD E. WESTLAKE

bianglala

One of the things that frightened me about writing when I was a small boy is that I had no ideas and no imagination. I was constantly being told this anyway, and I couldn't write very well. I could joke around like other boys, but on paper I had nothing really serious to add, no adventures I wanted to write down, because I didn't – I just didn't link the two up. I think I learnt at some point that the imagination is not something that you either have or don't have. For me – and we're all different – it's triggered by real people, historical events, memories, by reality of some sort. I don't think in my life I've ever written a story which does not have some little root, some little seed of truth or observation.

MICHAEL MORPURGO

bianglala

Literature is a sort of keeping going while the various destinies all around about you are being enacted. It's a way, I think, of coping with time. We don't seem to live very long, and yet on the other hand 24 hours can be a tremendously big burden.

PETER PORTER

bianglala

I don't write for readers; I don't think many writers do – I don't think any. They say they do, don't they? But . . . well, I only write for myself, and when somebody says: "Oh, your book has given me so much pleasure," I just think, "How peculiar". I don't know what to say. Of course I don't say that; I smile and say "How nice" – but I think I'd have written books whether they were published or not. I just liked writing.

BERYL BAINBRIDGE

seribulan

Roald Dahl - Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.

bianglala

Like most writers, I write because I feel that I have to. It’s not exactly a compulsion, but it’s quite close to that. Writing makes sense of one’s world, which is what most of us want to do on some level or other.

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH

bianglala

I started as a writer of children’s books. I entered a writing competition and was fortunate enough to be one of the winners. After writing numerous children’s books I started to write short stories, and then progressed to writing novels.

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH

bianglala

Writing can make you want to tear your hair out, but it also contains these sublime moments when you’ve captured exactly what you meant to capture, when you’ve expressed your truth and you’ve expressed it perfectly. Those moments are fleeting, but they’re so intense that once you’ve had one, there’s nothing like it. You’re hooked. You’ll spend an insane amount of time trying to make it happen again.

ALYSON FOSTER

bianglala

Taste in writing and literature is subjective. I always remind myself that there isn’t one book out there so brilliantly written that it doesn’t have its staunch detractors, people who are happy to detail for you exactly what they don’t like about it.

ALYSON FOSTER

bianglala

My writing process typically involves a ‘what if?’ idea or scenario. I’ll run it past my agent and editor to see if it gets their approval then I’ll start to brainstorm it.  I’ll ask questions of my character – who is she, what happened in her past that shaped her personality and, most importantly, what does she want more than anything else in the world? Then I’ll think about supporting characters, particularly the antagonist. Once I’ve got my cast I’ll begin thinking about structure. I’ll plot on a whiteboard, using the four act structure and add post-it notes for scenes. If I’ve got time I’ll then write an outline. If I haven’t I’ll bullet point what I’ve got. I’ll then run that past my agent and editor in case they have any concerns and, if they give it the thumbs up, I’ll start writing the first draft.

C.L TAYLOR

bianglala

Reading should be a totally enjoyable experience, for both the adult and child. Whether that time is spent curled up together at bedtime, reading a soothing sleepy story, sharing an emotional text, or giggling over some madcap adventure, it should leave the reader satisfied, encouraged and edified in some way – even just a smile on your face. To me, that’s what makes a picture book a success.

CLAIR FREEDMAN

bianglala

Read, read, read books for the age group you aspire to write for. Then write, write, write with your own voice.

CLAIR FREEDMAN

bianglala

I think that I've always written most of my life. I've always been the kind of person that has a lot of ideas. I don't know if everyone has that. I always say that's the kind of thing you can't really teach. You can teach people to write better I think, but I don't know if you can teach them to have ideas.

CLAIR MACGOWAN

bianglala

Read as much as you can. Read widely. Read outside your comfort zone. Follow your heart. Develop obsessions with subjects that inspire you and use them as fuel to fire your art. Live. Engage with the world. Get Out There; looking at bad weather through glass is not the same as getting cold and wet and splashing through puddles. Be grateful for having the ability, whether it is in art or literature, to express what lies inside your heart.

DEBI GLIORI

bianglala

I enjoy deadlines – they give some shape to my writing year. If there were no deadlines, I might get lazy.

IAN RANKIN

bianglala

Getting started in writing is, I’m sorry to say, very much more difficult than it was when I began over 30 years ago! But what I would suggest is, rather than start with a full scale novel, also begin with smaller pieces – like writing a piece on a village or locality for the local paper, or even something for the parish magazine and working up to something more major in due course.

JOANNA TROLLOPE

bianglala

Write what you want to write, not what you think will sell, don’t be put off by rejection, and don’t hand your book out for everyone to read to seek validation, for too many cooks will definitely spoil your broth.

JANE GREEN

bianglala

I write because otherwise the stories in my head would drive me mad. And I write because it’s cathartic, and because I can – it has helped me immeasurably in sorting out my feelings about seminal moments in my life. And really, it is people that inspire me, emotions and how they deal with the things that life throws at them.

JANE GREEN

seribulan

bianglala

Write about the thing that really obsesses you – you need to feel possessed to get through the long, hard journey of writing a book. And don’t give up when it gets hard in the middle. The middle always feels impossible, as if you’ll never finish.

JUSTINE PICARDIE