Elizabeth George Quotes

I think you have to learn for yourself how to write. I'm slightly mystified by creative writing courses - God love them - because I can't understand how you can explain a process that I find so baffling.

I think most writers will say that at the start of each book they think, 'I'm not sure I can do this.' But eventually, you reach a magical point where the story suddenly becomes real to you, and you become totally invested in it.

I find writing really difficult - definitely the most difficult of all the things I do.

I'm a great believer in the experiential theory of writing.

As a writer, I'm not convinced that we are the best equipped to understand how we go about the business of literary production.

I think that most writers who wait until they're inspired to write are just waiting for the fear to subside.

I never think that any writer can teach someone how to write.

I am always trying to write.

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

If you write really good material, the rest just falls into place. There's really no trick to it.

I don't usually think of my writing as a 'challenge' because I enjoy the process so much. I suppose that's what's helped me to avoid 'writer's block' all these years.

I have trouble writing if I can't picture how things are going to look.

I'm not a very good writer. I'm working at it.

I'm still startled when people ask me for writing advice.

A lot of young writers ask me about my process. They know what they want to write - but they need to know how. What's the right way? How do the professionals do it? What's the secret?

I can't write - I don't even know how to punctuate.

I didn't know how to be a writer. But I thought, 'I can do this.'

I don't want to talk too much about the nitty-gritty of writing. It's rather like a pressure cooker with a certain amount of pressure in it - the more you let out, the less you cook.

I'm one of the lucky writers: plots come easily to me.

I never write in a linear way. And I tell students not to. You can only know so much about a book when you first start.

Writing can be a frightening, distressing business, and whatever kind of structure or buffer is available can help a lot.

Getting to the point where I was ready to write a book has been about a 20-year journey of being, really honestly, too afraid to try - which I think is pretty common for people who are trying to write a large piece of fiction.

I'm always looking at ways of shaking up the writing experience because I think it helps.

I've been writing fiction probably since I was about 6 years old, so it's something that is second nature to me now. I just sit down and start writing. I don't sit down and start writing and it comes out perfectly - it's a process.

I have to always remember, writing is really hard.