Bill Duke Quotes

For me, I used to be shy towards journalism because it wasn't poetry. And then I realized that the events that I covered in essays that became journalism were actually great because they inspired me, and they became my muse.

Mainly I love working on good writing.

I knew I would read all kinds of books and try to get at what it is that makes good writers good. But I made no promises that I would write books a lot of people would like to read.

I've always liked new writing.

I love the written word so much, I know it's gonna flow naturally.

Robert Ludlum, all of them, write the absolute best they can. You can't tone it down. You just do what you do, and if it comes out literary, so be it.

I'm inspired by playwrights, novelists, poets: The value of language has been a lifelong passion of mine. I enjoy it. I'm good at it.

I should tell you that many people think that authors just cut and paste from real life into books. It doesn't work quite that way.

I was writing novels in high school and apprenticed myself in a way both to Faulkner and to Hemingway.

You have to go where the good writing is.

Give me good writing, and I'll play it all day.

How can I impress strangers with the gem-like flame of my literary passion if it's a digital slate I'm carrying around, trying not to get it all thumbprinty?

I'm definitely a writer. I don't even know how to freestyle.

Of course you bank on your experience, but as a sounding board. It isn't that you write down what happens to you every day. You wouldn't be a writer if you did that.

I'm afraid there are no magical tips. There is no secret. Writing is all about telling stories as well as you can.

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

I've been writing for a long time.

You can't take a story and just stretch it out - that does not a novel make.

Sloane Crosley and David Sedaris are two of my favorite writers; they're the kind of writers who make you feel like, 'I can do this. I want to do this.'

I've always wanted to be a writer. Ever since I learned to read, I've wanted to share stories with others the way my favorite writers shared their stories with me.

Writing will remain a passion project.

I discovered that writing was very nice indeed when I was very young, and I never changed. I don't think my style has changed very much at all - though I hope what I say is a bit more interesting. It's about getting to know a character and loving them, I think.

I prefer writing originals.

As a writer, one is busy with archaeology.

Write the best book you can, the one that demands to be written, no matter what genre it is. Even a trend the trades tell you has gone stale can be revitalized by a superb piece of writing. It'll never be revitalized by someone jumping on a trend bandwagon.