Ian Mcewan Quotes

For any writers at all, read everything you can and then put your butt in the chair and write. That's all there is to it.

I don't write on demand - I wait for inspiration to come.

When I sit at my table to write, I never know what it's going to be until I'm under way. I trust in inspiration, which sometimes comes and sometimes doesn't. But I don't sit back waiting for it. I work every day.

I'm not the kind of writer that goes, 'I'm gonna write a song about sunshine,' or, 'I've just heard a phrase, so I'm gonna write that,' and then I write a song. I'll wait for inspiration to hit, and you can't depend on it.

My advice is not to wait to be struck by an idea. If you're a writer, you sit down and damn well decide to have an idea. That's the way to get an idea.

You hear about people who write 15 to 20 novels. How do they do it? You just gotta do it.

I spent six years after my first novel and five years after my second without getting into a new book.

Rarely does a complete idea come to me. I basically start with just a small scene or a snatch of dialogue and force myself to write and to keep writing. Sometimes it becomes a book.

I don't write listening to music, and in a way it seems silly that any writer should have to explain why not, as it's possibly no different from saying you don't eat gourmet dinners or play tennis while you're at the keyboard.

I don't really get into a writing routine until March or April, when I'll write a few hundred words a day, often in a cafe in the morning after the school run.

I think the way to be a writer is to experience things, certainly, and be open to things, but at some point to become dedicated to the craft of writing and to create a stable environment for that writing to occur in.

Sustaining a narrative in sentences and paragraphs is very different from songwriting. But the dedication to the craft and just the endurance that it takes, you know, to stick with it and believe you can pull it out and make it real and finish it, I learned that a long time ago writing songs.

If you want to take writing on, you should pay writing the respect it deserves, which is to say, reading it.

I try to write every day, preferably first thing in the morning. Of course, there are days when something happens to interfere with this ideal schedule. Then I try to find time later in the day. I usually work at home, but sometimes, for a change I'll go to a library or a cafe. And I like to read poetry before I sit down to write.

One of my favorite rules of writing: stop whenever it's feeling really good so you have something to look forward to the next day.

Every day I write. I am not waiting for a great idea from heaven.

I'm always working on my next novel, even when I'm not.

My method is, I just sit down and write a book.

Of course I knew that writing was terrifically hard work and that there was no secret code, as in a video game, that would unlock Tolstoy-mode, enabling me to crank out canon-worthy novellas before lunch.

I have a great respect for people that write. I don't know how they do it every day... or do novels that they have to use their minds instead of just their memories. It's tough duty.

If you enjoy your journey as a writer, you will never find it difficult to write.

I would say, number one, don't worry about getting published. Just write. Number two, just write. Three is make sure you read.

I just write from dawn to dusk.

If I could say anything to aspiring writers, it's to keep your own counsel, first and foremost.

You do have to kind of sit down and try to write, because it's not the easiest thing when you're off and on planes. I'm sure if you're always on a bus, it's a little bit easier.