Martha Wells Quotes

I'm a writer who likes to be influenced.

Usually I decide on what it is I'm writing next by the books I'm reading.

Like many authors, I caught the writing bug during my teenage years. I don't remember the exact day or year, but I remember that reading S.E. Hinton's 'The Outsiders' sparked my interest in writing.

A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

I didn't start writing until late high school and then I was just diddling. Mainly I loved to read and my writing was an outgrowth of that.

Well, I think everything I've ever read contributes to the background from which I write.

I would be honored if someone reads my books and it inspires them to write their own work.

I don't have traceable literary models because I haven't had great literary influences in my life.

I started writing when I was about 20, 21 maybe.

I always have a book that I use that somehow inspires my novels.

If you wish to be a writer, write.

If you want to be a writer, just write. There's no magic to it.

Oh, I think every author is inspired by all of the books that she reads.

Other writers definitely influence my writing. What encourages me and inspires me is when I read a good book. It makes me want to be a better writer.

I never know how to give advice to a writer because there's so much you could say, and it's hard to translate your own experience. But of course, I always try. The main thing that I usually end up saying is to read a lot. To read a great deal and to learn from that.

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

I had never written anything before in my life except maybe in high school when I wrote a short story, and my mother had to put an ending on that.

I sort of always like to write starting with when I learned how.

I don't know if any single book made me want to write. C.S. Lewis was the first writer to make me aware that somebody was writing the book I was reading - these wonderful parenthetical asides to the reader.

People say I don't write books, I make Christmas presents.

Everything that you read is an influence on everything you write, and you want to draw as many elements into your work as you can.

I'm clearly not a writer, but I'm always a fan of them.

I cannot recall any moment of clarity about becoming a writer. I always liked to read. That's what did it.

I starting writing when I was about 13 or 14 years old.

When I read 'Greenberg,' I had a really strong sense if I could be any kind of writer I wanted to be, I'd be this kind of writer. And I felt like, even in my experiences, what writing I had done, even on a small scale, when it was good, it shared some quality with it.