Surprise Sunday

A month ago I did a writers wisdom post or writers on writing or words of wisdom (used to be called WoW Saturdays for those who’ve been following this blog for a long time). I thought it was time to share more of those… I still have plenty on file! So, for your Sunday, here are some wise writers’ quotes!

So many of the writers I work with I just know will never be successful because they simply lack the self-belief to push on with their ideas and deliver their stories in their own way irrespective of what the world thinks. They come to seminars by people like me hoping to find other people who will magically turn their ideas into winners for them. It doesn’t happen. Editors and producers do not descend from heaven and fix up half-arsed stories. If they could do that, they would be writers themselves. Delivering a complete and excellent story is YOUR job.

– David Baboulene

I suppose formal training does different things for different people, and all of us get interested in the process once we’re involved, but one absolute truth I am certain of is that the only essential training for writing is reading. If you are starting to write and you haven’t read a thousand books first, you’re not ready. To be a writer you must be a reader. After that writing is simply about personal confidence.

– Lee Child

What I mean by that is new beginning writers are so worried about sentences and pretty words and nifty grammar and pleasing their workshop that they forget they are storytellers. They are woking to become entertainers. Beginning writers just forget about readers and how readers are the real judges.

– Dean Wesley Smith

The world wide web has spawned an unpleasant epidemic of idiots who are quick to criticize, insult, dismiss, and reject without any accountability. These folks really believe their nearsighted and downright idiotic opinions are not only correct, but need to be voiced in public.

– Joe Konrath

And much, I should add, does not. Mr. Locke writes incisively and persuasively on finding one’s ideal target audience and giving them what they want. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I already know what I write, and I’ve long since worked out for myself that it is not my job to give my readers what they want. It is rather for me to please myself first and write the books I want to write. That’s how I came by those readers in the first place, and it’s the only way I know to serve them well.

– Lawrence Block

Posted by Barb on 24/03/2013

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/surprise-sunday-7/