Category Archives: Writing

Writers’ quote of the day: Stuart Kaminsky on writing historical novels

Posted on 29/05/2012 by

‘What do people do when they write historical novels?  Research.  Basic to all such books is the belief that human nature remains constant, that people change because of their circumstances and location, in addition to their time in history.  The … Continue reading →

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Ralph McInerny on learning writing technique

Posted on 20/05/2012 by

‘Under the tutelage of my first editor . . . I learned to turn hitherto shapeless narratives into stories.  Later I saw that I was learning the hard way what I had read about in Aristotle’s Poetics.  And I was constrained … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: Ralph McInerny on the difference between a serious writer and a dilettante

Posted on 19/05/2012 by

‘The difference between a serious writer and a dilettante lies in their contrasting attitudes toward technique.  The dilettante writes to amuse himself, an easy task, but the serious writer seeks to interest a reader.  Over my typewriter I pinned the … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: Fred Vargas on her ‘police procedural’ crime novels

Posted on 12/05/2012 by

‘[My first novel] Les Jeux de l’amour et de la mort [Games of Love and Death] was a very bad book.  My ambition was to find some music in the language, but I made the mistake of thinking the plot had … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: Deon Meyer’s advice to would-be novelists

Posted on 10/05/2012 by

‘The best advice is: sit down and write.  It might sound simple, but I find that a lot of would-be writers talk about it much more than actually doing it.  Writing, like all skills, is only developed when you apply yourself.’ … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: Reginald Hill on research

Posted on 04/05/2012 by

‘Johnson says wisely that just as important as knowledge of a subject is knowing where to find out about it.  I own many reference tomes, I make jottings in notebooks, and I tear articles out of journals, but on the … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: Randy Susan Meyers on what makes great writing

Posted on 21/04/2012 by

‘Great writing (for me, as reader) isn’t such because it’s fancified or cluttered with metaphors.  It’s because the story soars off the page and burrows in my heart.’ ~ Randy Susan Meyers

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Writers’ quote of the day: Reginald Hill on plot

Posted on 20/04/2012 by

‘Plot is the basis of narrative interest, the force that drives a reader along paths which ahead seem totally mysterious, but behind appear as clear as day.  It is easy to mystify.  The good mystery writer’s real skill lies in … Continue reading →

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Pic of the day: Old house in the woods (perfect inspiration for the ghost story you’re about to write!)

Posted on 31/03/2012 by

Click on the image to enlarge it.

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Fascinating marginal notes in manuscripts and colophons made by medieval scribes and copyists

Posted on 24/03/2012 by

From: Lapham’s Quarterly

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Writers’ quote of the day: Kingsley Amis on one of the chief pleasures of writing!

Posted on 20/02/2012 by

‘If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing.’ ~ Kingsley Amis

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Writers’ quote of the day: Linwood Barclay on how to become a writer

Posted on 23/01/2012 by

‘Everyone’s path is different, but there two things you have to be doing.  You have to be writing.  And you have to be reading.  You learn so much from reading a variety of different writers.  I believe that if you’re … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: Ken Follett on outlining and rewriting

Posted on 14/01/2012 by

‘Everything is planned.  I spent a long time outlining.  It’s the only way I know to get all the ducks in a row . . . The research is the easiest.  The outline is the most fun because you can … Continue reading →

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Quote of the day: Reginald Hill on writing bestselling crime fiction

Posted on 13/01/2012 by

‘When I get up in the morning, I ask my wife whether I should write a Booker prize-winning novel, or another bestselling crime book.  We always come down on the side of the crime book.’ ~ Reginald Hill

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The writer’s New Year resolution, this year and every year

Posted on 02/01/2012 by

‘Read a lot, write a lot is the great commandment.’ ~ Stephen King

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Writers’ quote of the day: Edward Albee on the importance of reading bad novels

Posted on 29/12/2011 by

‘If you are going to learn from other writers don’t only read the great ones, because if you do that you’ll get so filled with despair and the fear that you’ll never be able to do anywhere near as well … Continue reading →

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Thriller writer Tom Cain (pseudonym of Fleet Street journalist David Thomas) on researching a novel

Posted on 27/12/2011 by

‘I do a ton of research, a lot of it online, a lot through books and traditional media, and quite a bit of it face-to-face with experts in various fields.  This was one area where years of reporting really helped: … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: how thriller-writer Daniel Silva writes his books (and what he wears while writing)

Posted on 01/12/2011 by

‘I am something of a creature of habit.  I work seven days a week, from early in the morning until six thirty in the evening, when I stop to watch the evening news.  My work clothing never varies: gray sweatpants … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: John Grisham on the best writing decision he ever made

Posted on 30/11/2011 by

‘[While on an early book tour] a very young executive with a big book chain just said in passing that “the big guys come out every year.”  He meant the likes of Clancy, King, Crichton, Ludlum, Follett.  I heard that loud … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: Kim Fabricius on writing

Posted on 23/11/2011 by

‘Writing is like a trip to the dentist for a root canal: you hate going but you’re glad you’ve been.’ ~ Kim Fabricius

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Writers’ quote of the day: Joseph Conrad on creating a believable fictional world

Posted on 19/11/2011 by

‘Every novelist must begin by creating for himself a world, great or little, in which he can honestly believe.’ ~ Joseph Conrad

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Advice for science-fiction/fantasy/horror writers: establish the story’s rules early and then don’t break them

Posted on 15/11/2011 by

‘The hard part for storytellers in speculative fiction is figuring out what the rules should be, then getting them across to the audience clearly and convincingly.  And then not breaking those rules for the sake of a moment, even if … Continue reading →

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Idiosyncratic but powerful writing advice from the great Flannery O’Connor

Posted on 12/11/2011 by

From her collected letters, published as The Habit of Being: 1. I’m a full-time believer in writing habits . . . You may be able to do without them if you have genius but most of us only have talent … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: Frank Cottrell Boyce on innovative stories as voyages of discovery

Posted on 29/10/2011 by

‘We think in stories.  Before you can build a rocket to go to the Moon, you have to dream of being able to do so.  Before you can sail across the Atlantic to America you have to dream of Hy … Continue reading →

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Writers’ quote of the day: M. J. Hyland on rewriting first drafts

Posted on 26/10/2011 by

‘I’ve never read or written a perfect first draft.  Perfect first drafts don’t exist.  And yet most writers, at the beginning of their careers, think they must.  This intimidating myth of effortless gift persists because successful authors aren’t in the … Continue reading →

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