I'm one of those writers who, when writing, believes she's god-and that she hasn't bestowed free will on any of her characters. In that sense there are no surprises in any of my books.
quote by Lynn Abbey

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method. Writers are really people who write books not because they are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with the books which they could buy but do not like.
quote by Walter Benjamin

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Most Writers
Most writers 'twould seem have moments of self doubt
But they never go short of things to write about
And to become a top writer of one a big ask
And to succeed as a writer for many seems too daunting a task.
Most writers do not write for wealth or for fame
And despite lack of success they pen on just the same
For every one hundred thousand writers perhaps one writing millionaire
Amongst the ranks of the wealthy the writers are rare.
Few writers can hope for to scale success height
For the love of writing they only do write
Few writers get published and fewer know of success
But in their writings on paper their thoughts they express.
Most writers will never know wealth and renown
And they are not even well known in their own Hometown
They never will be known beyond their home shore
They write for the love of it and little more.
poem by Francis Duggan

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Writing became an obsessive compulsive habit but I had almost no money so I thought about being an urban firefighter and having lots of free time in which to write or becoming an English teacher and thinking about books and writers on a daily basis. That swayed me.
quote by David Guterson

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A Mirror Image
How many times when reading a book,
do we identify with the characters within?
Their traits they have we share,
their loves and heartaches
their lives go through somehow mirror our own.
It’s as if the author was writing about us.
As though he has put us under a microscope
and then writing down everything, he saw.
However, we know this isn’t so
because he or she has written
segments of their own life
and by accident they happen to mirror ours.
Every writer will tell you
that they have their characters under control.
Having written numerous novels,
I know the characters take on a life of their own
and do what they want to do.
We become their instrument as they guide us on our way.
We end up writing what they want us to say.
To every writer his characters are real,
they live, breathe and feel.
The more you write about them,
the more alive they become.
So the next time you pick up a book
and the characters seem real,
they probably are to the author
who looks after them.
24 September 2008
poem by David Harris

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

They're fancy talkers about themselves, writers. If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
quote by Lillian Hellman

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I enjoy writing, sometimes; I think that most writers will tell you about the agony of writing more than the joy of writing, but writing is what I was meant to do.
I Come Alive In Writing
I come alive in writing
Even if the writing means nothing to anyone else-
I come alive in writing
Even if I am totally deluding myself as to its value-
I come alive in writing
Even if at times while writing there is an underlying hopelessness and despair -
I come alive in writing
As if writing is what God has given me to do-
I come alive in writing
As if through it I can truly give to and help others-
I come alive in writing
As if life has meaning through it-
I come alive in writing
Even when I sense the writing is not good or great
As I would wish it to be.
poem by Shalom Freedman

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Caricatures
There are writers great and writers small
And writers on the spree;
And writers short and writers tall,
And bards of low degree.
There are artists small and artist great,
With lines both bold and free –
It takes a Low to illustrate
Us bards of low degree.
poem by Henry Lawson

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

All the characters in my books are imagined, but all have a bit of who I am in them - much like the characters in your dreams are all formed by who you are.
quote by Alice Hoffman

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Library Impact
Climbing along the stairs
The books collide
Library books
Collide in the corner
Distinct the writers stood shoulder to shoulder
The mutual gaze
Assume to see the dissonance one another
On division boards
The rough figures of writers
Squeezing an atmosphere of paradox
Who decided
The hanging spot
Descending the darkness
The exhausted images coughed
Slept the park trees
Bird wings folded
Ignited the flint by a line of poetry
Burning a book
Burning the heart
Burning the sense, feeling and symbol
Expecting to meet a greatness
But, the ladder is crowded
Suffocated the four seasons
They stood shoulder to shoulder
Lack of the metaphor in literature
Pressed in the thick books
Unintelligibly
Library frequently wronged
The lodge being found by the travelled poet
poem by Catherine Yen

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

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

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian
Ballade Of The Bookworm
Far in the Past I peer, and see
A Child upon the Nursery floor,
A Child with books upon his knee,
Who asks, like Oliver, for more!
The number of his years is IV,
And yet in Letters hath he skill,
How deep he dives in Fairy-lore!
The Books I loved, I love them still!
One gift the Fairies gave me: (Three
They commonly bestowed of yore)
The Love of Books, the Golden Key
That opens the Enchanted Door;
Behind it BLUEBEARD lurks, and o'er
And o'er doth JACK his Giants kill,
And there is all ALADDIN'S store, -
The Books I loved, I love them still!
Take all, but leave my Books to me!
These heavy creels of old we bore
We fill not now, nor wander free,
Nor wear the heart that once we wore;
Not now each River seems to pour
His waters from the Muses' hill;
Though something's gone from stream and shore,
The Books I loved, I love them still!
ENVOY.
Fate, that art Queen by shore and sea,
We bow submissive to thy will,
Ah grant, by some benign decree,
The Books I loved--to love them still.
poem by Andrew Lang

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
At the same time, I think books create a sort of network in the reader's mind, with one book reinforcing another. Some books form relationships. Other books stand in opposition. No two writers or readers have the same pattern of interaction.
quote by Margaret Mahy

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
What's a Goon?
What's a goon?
Could that be someone
Who believes they have an intelligence
Gained from books and not from a sense,
Observed or obtained...
By using a brain that is lame!
These are the days,
Insecurities frustrate empty debates!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Inside the Books
It has been written of books,
Inside them we singe our lips,
Innards are displayed before the lap,
Innocent layers must majestically and magnetically
Collect like soap and water in a sink.
We are washed of the history and innocence,
You are envy, pride and all;
What is more is that you laugh of the books and you gain
A living language to matter to the rest of society.
This is the commencement of faith in books,
And you shall notice noise and writing,
You have not got writing for yourself.
poem by Naveed Akram

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Good Books
Good Books, Good Rhymes,
Good Stories, Good Times,
Good Beginings, Good Ends,
Good Tragic. Good Trends.
Good Fiction, Good Facts,
Good Adventures, Good Acts,
Good Characters, Good Thoughts,
Good Sense Of Humor, Good Soughts.
This Is Our Good Friends,
Which Have No Demand, No Complaints.
It Is Read By All Over-
From President To Cooks.
Really It Is Our
GOOD BOOKS………..
poem by Kaushal Saboo

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Writer's Drought
You've heard of a thing called writer's block and you've heard of writer's drought
But writers are never short of things on which they can write about
It's just at times their inspiration well does seem to run dry
And they cannot seem to pen a line though hard enough they try.
The writers drought it causes writers moments of self doubt
Till the words that seem locked in them eventually flow out
Through their pens to their notebooks their dry spells do not last
And on time lost out on penning words they seem to catch up fast.
Some writers in their writing drought cannot seem to feel inspired
To write even a single line they feel mentally tired
But when fresh inspiration comes to them much better stuff they do write
And feeling re-invigorated they sit and pen all night.
Most writers you will talk to of writers drought can tell
When there is no inspiration in their inspiration well
But when inspiration returns to them and their creative juices flow
They become much better writers and in self confidence grow.
poem by Francis Duggan

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

I think one of the coolest things about the job is the level of trust we have for each other. The actors fully trust that the writers will write amazing episodes, and the writers trust that the actors will follow their instincts with the characters.
quote by John Krasinski

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian
Writing children's books gives a writer a very strong sense of narrative drive.
quote by Helen Dunmore

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
If writers were good businessmen, they'd have too much sense to be writers.
quote by Irvin S. Cobb

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!