F. Paul Wilson Quotes

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.

In a weak moment, I have written a book.

I really think that reading is just as important as writing when you're trying to be a writer because it's the only apprenticeship we have, it's the only way of learning how to write a story.

My advice to would-be young authors is to read a lot, write a lot, and not worry about creating a finished product. Keeping a journal is not a bad idea either.

I've lost my writing skills since college. I couldn't write a book. It would take a long time.

I always think about myself as a writer; that comes out of being a reader first, and I don't think I kind of got to really playing with language in any formal way probably until I was in my mid-twenties.

I think the way you become a good storyteller is to read a lot of stories and evaluate them in your own mind.

I should have written books instead of reading them.

I think one of the reasons I'm so thrilled with writing is because it is an act of reading for me at the same time, which is why my revisions are so sustained.

Writing a novel is a lot like reading one.

Saul Bellow once said, 'A writer is a reader who has moved to emulation' — which I think is true. I just started writing and made that jump from reader to writer and learned how hard it was, but also how much fun it was — losing myself in these imaginary worlds.

This afternoon, burn down the house. Tomorrow, pour critical water upon the simmering coals. Time enough to think and cut and rewrite tomorrow. But today-explode-f ly-apart-disint egrate! The other six or seven drafts are going to be pure torture. So why not enjoy the first draft, in the hope that your joy will seek and find others in the world who, by reading your story, will catch fire, too?

One of my favorite modern American authors is Denis Johnson. I'm deeply inspired by all of his work - I rip him off constantly.

So I grew up in a very book-friendly environment and my education as a writer was reading. I think that's the best education. Reading, and taking from the people I admired.

If you want to be a writer, don't worry so much about writing. Read as much as you can. Read as many different writers as you can. Soak up the styles.

I'm not a writer. I like being a reader.

The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book.

Like most authors, I also love to read.

Some people play the piano, some do Sudoku, some watch television, some people go out to dinner parties. I write books.

I love to read poetry but I haven't written anything that I'm willing to show anybody.

Authors are influenced by everything they've ever read. If you've read widely enough, it helps you create your own mix.

It's good to get your hands dirty a bit and to test how you see things at a given point. And it's very pleasing after writing something like 'Atonement' or 'On Chesil Beach,' which are historical, to get involved in some plausible re-enactment of the here and now.

You learn to write by reading, and my experiences and tastes as a reader are pretty wide.

Authors like reading. Go figure. So it's not surprising that we sometimes bog down in the research stage of new writing projects.

The best way to become a successful writer is to read good writing, remember it, and then forget where you remember it from.