52 Quotes About How To Write Fiction

The internet is killing the art of writing. The big "publish" button begs you to publish even before you go back and make one single edit, and as if this was not enough, you have instant readers who praise your writing skills! - Bangambiki Habyarimana

I used to be afraid about what people might say or think after reading what I had written. I am not afraid anymore, because when I write, I am not trying to prove anything to anyone, I am just expressing myself and my opinions. It’s ok if my opinions are different from those of the reader, each of us can have his own opinions. So writing is like talking, if you are afraid of writing, you may end up being afraid of talking. Bangambiki Habyarimana

I am not a supporter of burning books; but like poison, some books should be kept away from simple minds who can't take in the strong content they provide Bangambiki Habyarimana

One author said "I write because I want to live a footprint in the sands of history.” It's hard to live a footprint in the sands of history when giants are passing through the same sands unless you are one of the giants Bangambiki Habyarimana

In order to protect their good names for posterity, many writers never wrote what they thought or the truth as it stood. That's why truth still lies hidden in matters of power, sex and religion. No wonder they chose to do so, many who dared paid with their heads Bangambiki Habyarimana

Great characters- They are pivotal for a great plot. THEN a solid plot: Why then? If you do not have great characters it is impossible to create a good plot, nonetheless a solid one. Once you have built great characters for the scenes, there you have it. It’s just like the movies, you cannot have a great film if the characters are frail and their lines are weak as well. I guess great world-building comes along with a good plot. If there is something that will work fine in a novel is how you will develop from the theme. You’ve got to establish a good timeline, and from there it comes a world. You see the technical matters don’t match or matter as much to me. Even a poorly written story, if there is a good plot and great characters on it will make a divine combination There are simply many cases of it over the mainstream and that even reached the big screen. Ana Claudia Antunes

I'll call any length of fiction a story, whether it be a novel or a shorter piece, and I'll call anything a story in which specific characters and events influence each other to form a meaningful narrative. I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one. Then they find themselves writing a sketch with an essay woven through it, or an essay with a sketch woven through it, or an editorial with a character in it, or a case history with a moral, or some other mongrel thing. When they realize that they aren't writing stories, they decide that the remedy for this is to learn something that they refer to as "the technique of the short story" or "the technique of the novel." Technique in the minds of many is something rigid, something like a formula that you impose on the material; but in the best stories it is something organic, something that grows out of the material, and this being the case, it is different for every story of any account that has ever been written. . Flannery OConnor

Fiction operates through the senses, and I think one reason that people find it so difficult to write stories is that they forget how much time and patience is required to convince through the senses. No reader who doesn't actually experience, who isn't made to feel, the story is going to believe anything the fiction writer merely tells him. The first and most obvious characteristic of fiction is that it deals with reality through what can be seen, heard, smelt, tasted, and touched. Flannery OConnor

If you are writing fiction, think like a god. Release all the power of your imagination; create worlds and destroy them at your will, create as many miracles as your story needs Bangambiki Habyarimana

The instruction here is not for every kind of writer - not for the writer of nurse books or thrillers or porno or the cheaper sort of sci-fi - though it is true that what holds for the most serious kind of fiction will generally hold for junk fiction as well. (Not everyone is capable of writing junk fiction: It requires an authentic junk mind. Most creative-writing teachers have had the experience of occasionally helping to produce, by accident, a pornographer. The most elegant techniques in the world, filtered through a junk mind, become elegant junk techniques.). John Gardner

Life's a book filled on pages Just awaiting to be written. Some don't open it for ages, Maybe afraid of being bitten. Ana Claudia Antunes

The world would have been a better place if some men had just shut their mouths. Bangambiki Habyarimana

I am what I have ever read Bangambiki Habyarimana

We write, not because we claim to know more than others, but perhaps because we want to know more than others. Writers are explorers Bangambiki Habyarimana

Words disappear in the air, but writing remains. If you want something to be remembered about you, write it down Bangambiki Habyarimana

A writer is never alone, he is always with himself Bangambiki Habyarimana

You say you have nothing to write about? How do you find things to talk about? You can write about those things you like to talk about, that's your area of expertise Bangambiki Habyarimana

. If you want to write, just write anything that comes into your mind. You will be surprised at how you can force inspiration to stand on your side. Bangambiki Habyarimana

You can edit what you write. Why not edit what you say? If it hurts somebody, you can still offer an apology or withdraw your statements Bangambiki Habyarimana

Able writers let us into their minds and show us how they think and by that open our minds to ourselves Bangambiki Habyarimana

Sometimes I have a good idea, something I wish I could remember, and instead of writing it down, commit it to my memory only to disappear when I needed it. Write your ideas as they come, if you wait it will be too long and you may not recover it. It may get destroyed as it is to seed to and fro in the ever rushing river of our thoughts Bangambiki Habyarimana

If you are afraid of the critics you will never write a word Bangambiki Habyarimana

You never know what you will write until you write it Bangambiki Habyarimana

Write it as you see in your own perspective, you may be right or wrong but then what, that's how you see it Bangambiki Habyarimana

How do you feel when you read stuff written by dead authors? A visit by a ghost? Bangambiki Habyarimana

You cannot write if you are not angry Bangambiki Habyarimana

You cannot write if you are not on fire Bangambiki Habyarimana

Writing is sharing. You share what you have. Great writers have more to share Bangambiki Habyarimana

People speak even after their death. Only do speak those who have recorded their speech in writing before they die, the rest go silent forever Bangambiki Habyarimana

The power of a writer is that he is a god of sorts. He can create his own worlds and populate them with his own people, all by the powers of his imagination. It's the closest a man can come close to the gods. No wonder the most successful writers are considered immortals Bangambiki Habyarimana

Self-censorship is more efficient than any police. You write and say not what you really think, but what you believe is acceptable. By that process we lose those revolutionary ideas that could change society for the better Bangambiki Habyarimana

Many writers write because they’ve been there, seen that, did it and burnt their fingers Bangambiki Habyarimana

A writer reports on the universe. When he presents his credentials, the gates of heaven and hell are equally opened to him. He can hear the devil’s defense and god’s accusations. The guards at the king’s heart let him in. The writer can be anything and any one he wants. When he writes he is a god, he creates. Bangambiki Habyarimana

If I can write, who possibly can’t. Even drawing a line in the sand is writing Bangambiki Habyarimana

The power of the writer is to capture the thoughts live and present them as they appeared in his mind Bangambiki Habyarimana

Writing is self-pleasure Bangambiki Habyarimana

Writing is all about self-expression, we want to speak up, to get it off our chest. Whether we make an impact or not that is not for us to decide Bangambiki Habyarimana

If I had time, money and knowledge I could write about everything; but no problem, Google is already doing it Bangambiki Habyarimana

Writing is magic happening on paper Bangambiki Habyarimana

Every book is worth reading. If it cannot make you wiser it will make you a critic Bangambiki Habyarimana

Today almost everybody is a writer, the enormous publish button on blogs and websites begs you everywhere to click on it! And bam you are a writer. To hell with agents and publishing houses and rejection letters. Immortality for you is on the click of a mouth! We are advancing at the speed of light! You can become an author at 140 characters. To hell with long winding sentences and long hours of scratching the head, the immortals of today instantly get a "like" and they instantly enter the pantheon! They seat side by side Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, St Paul, Buddha, Martin Luther, Rousseau, Bangambiki…. Bangambiki Habyarimana

When I write sometimes I strike gold, sometimes I labor in vain and keep producing rubbish Bangambiki Habyarimana

Don't believe in everything that is written. Not everything that is written is true Bangambiki Habyarimana

The fact is that if the writer's attention is on producing a work of art, a work that is good in itself, he is going to take great pains to control every excess, everything that does not contribute to this central meaning and design. He cannot indulge in sentimentality, in propagandizing, or in pornography and create a work of art, for all these things are excesses. They call attention to themselves and distract from the work as a whole. Flannery OConnor

I still suspect that most people start out with some kind of ability to tell a story but that it gets lost along the way. Of course, the ability to create life with words is essentially a gift. If you have it in the first place, you can develop it; if you don't have it, you might as well forget it. But I have found that people who don't have it are frequently the ones hell-bent on writing stories. I'm sure anyway that they are the ones who write the books and the magazine articles on how-to-write-short-stories. I have a friend who is taking a correspondence course in this subject, and she has passed a few of the chapter headings on to me–such as, "The Story Formula for Writers, " "How to Create Characters, " "Let's Plot! " This form of corruption is costing her twenty-seven dollars. Flannery OConnor

Now the second common characteristic of fiction follows from this, and it is that fiction is presented in such a way that the reader has the sense that it is unfolding around him. This doesn't mean he has to identify himself with the character or feel compassion for the character or anything like that. It just means that fiction has to be largely presented rather than reported. Another way to say it is that though fiction is a narrative art, it relies heavily on the element of drama. . Flannery OConnor

I am sorry, I am not a writer. I simply put my thoughts on paper. Those helped by them call them a book and me a writer. Those who are not helped call it rubbish and me a fool. Both have reason. Bangambiki Habyarimana

One day I will write a book. An epitaph Bangambiki Habyarimana

Every book has its ancestors Bangambiki Habyarimana

Writing is exposing yourself to strangers Bangambiki Habyarimana

Writing is a competition between the writer and the page. When the page wins, you fail as a writer. Bangambiki Habyarimana