Every writer dreams about the day they can step into their fiction and wander its hallways.

A man may be ‘dated’ in the sense that the forms, the set-up, the paraphernalia, whereby he expresses the matter of permanent interest, are those of a particular age. In that sense the greatest writers...

The writer does not dare dream of giving the best of his individuality. No, he must never express his anger. The vacillating demands of mediocrity must be satisfied. Amuse the people, be their clown, give...

Once outside the magic circle the writers became their lonely selves, pondering on poems, observing their fellow men ruthlessly, putting people they knew into novels; no wonder they were without friends.

It is true that novelists are shameless and obey no decent law, and they are not to be trusted on any account, but some Mysteries even they must honor.

Most people assume I write at night because of the kind of books I write, but I can shut out the light with my mind.

… The Book is more important than your plans for it. You have to go with what works for The Book ~ if your ideas appear hollow or forced when they are put on paper,...

Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite.

Don’t be afraid of what you’re creating.

If I were to be honest, I’m probably fifty percent bagel. Okay, fine, sixty percent.

In keeping with my family’s affection for doomed product lines and hexed formats, we purchased a Betamax. The year before, we’d bought a TRS-80 instead of an Apple II, and in due course we’d unbox...

Actually, writers have no business writing about their own works. They either wax conceited, saying things like: ‘My brilliance is possibly most apparent in my dazzling short story, “The Cookiepants Hypotenuse.”‘ Or else they get...

As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers, so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.

If pens doubled as bullets, I bet few writers would want to write about war.

Writers do not find subjects; subjects find them.

Readers are the glue that binds the books together.

You can’t really succeed with a novel anyway; they’re too big. It’s like city planning. You can’t plan a perfect city because there’s too much going on that you can’t take into account. You can,...

It’s the writers’ job to make it positive. It’s my job to make it real.

Writing help us to express our thoughts, to share experiences, to think, to love, to inspire, to motivate, to challenge, to liberate, to learn, to hope, to smile and to wonder.

Speak in your own voice about the things that matter to you.

Should he make a note? He felt for the smooth shape of his pen in his pocket. ‘Theme for a novel: The contrary pull … ” No. If this notion were real, he needn’t make...

Only the writers can change or fix the past by going back to edit old works

There is a long tradition in China for writers and journalists to take pen names, partly as protection from retaliation by authorities. If Facebook requires the use of real names, that could potentially put Chinese...

A writer off-guard since the materials with which he works are so dangerous can expect agony as quick as a thunderclap.

My only wish is to be buried with my books.

Writers aren’t born properly labeled so it is hard to know one when one appears.

A book, a true book, is the writer’s confessional. For, whether he would have it so or not, he is betrayed, directly or indirectly, by his characters, into presenting publicly his innermost feelings.

(An unhappy childhood was not) an unsuitable preparation for my future, in that it demanded a constant wariness, the habit of observation, and the attendance on moods and tempers; the noting of discrepancies between speech...

For the length of time it takes to write a book, you need to believe that you’re the only writer in existence; the only one who matters. You need to shut yourself away and allow...

The ‘coons had enjoyed a real party, and my trashcan had been the piñata! They’d obviously indulged in an evening of feasting on our wares and then staggered off the property loaded up with our...

Negative experiences repeat as long as they remain useful to you.

I believe that half the trouble in the world comes from people asking ‘What have I achieved?’ rather than ‘What have I enjoyed?’ I’ve been writing about a subject I love as long as I...

Just because everybody uses language, that doesn’t mean that they can write even tolerable prose.

There is somethingmystically sadand beautifulabouthowi will neversee youagainbut meet youagain and againin poetry.

Mark to yourself the gradual way in which you have been prepared for, and are now led by an irresistible necessity to enter upon your great labour.

Writing is such a solitary occupation that it takes a long time to build up a group of professional peers with whom you genuinely identify.

How do you write? You write, man, you write, that’s how…If you practice an art faithfully it will make you wise, and most writers can use a little wising up.

Writers use narratives to select from everything there is, and make contexts by putting the pieces into relation; that’s what writers do, they make contexts.

Good ideas stay with you until you eventually write the story.

Writing like this is a little like milking a cow: the milk is so rich and delicious, and the cow is so glad you did it.

Caught red-handed for exclamation abuse.

All writers of confessions from Augustine on down, have always remained a little in love with their sins.

Ginsberg was the favourite bohemian poet of straight college boys who wanted to transgress, and of gay college boys who were not yet ready to come out.

People who don’t read fiction are scared of what’s inside their own heads.

Gay life is this object out there that’s waiting to be written about. A lot of people think we’ve exhausted all the themes of gay fiction, but we’ve just barely touched on them.

I hope for what I always hope for as a writer: a critical but kind reader. I think that is what we all hope for.

I do not recommend writing a screenplay in two weeks.

When people have told me that because I am a Catholic, I cannot be an artist, I have had to reply, ruefully, that because I am a Catholic I cannot afford to be less than...

I find myself nursing keen regret at probably not being able to live long enough to explain properly to you what I do not myself pretend to know. But since it has been proved that...

I have witness the stars brighterthan a poet can create a simpleton world. Shall we write ‘until death do us part.