Tana French Quotes

Write a million words before thinking about getting published.

If you write enough, you begin to learn to do things. But in a way, you do start from zero each time.

Every story I write is different. Some are hard. Some aren't. 'Chronicle' was tremendously easy. I have a hard time comparing my process on different things, but I will say this: The more you write, the better you get at it. That's one of the few things that's markedly true.

Writing has taught me a lot - though far from everything - about writing, so as time has passed, it has become more pleasurable if not easier. I've done other things in life, but writing is by a factor of 10 the most difficult among them. And, of course, you never achieve what you set out to achieve, so you must keep on trying to do better.

Most people won't realize that writing is a craft. You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else.

One of the things you get to do as a writer is that you get to learn new stuff all the time, and I hope that I'm a better writer when I'm 70 than I was when I was 30. That's one of the great things about a literary career.

I began to imitate what I was reading, and I started to become a poet, even though what I was writing were not good poems.

I was a 'learn by doing' writer - I never took any formal writing classes. So it took a long time to figure things out and find my voice.

I personally feel I still have so much to learn as a writer; each novel is better than the one before, just because I'm getting better at it.

I feel more comfortable each time I sit down to write, but I'm determined to get better and better.

Writing is like a sport - you only get better if you practice

By writing much, one learns to write well.

I think all good writing is a struggle. To write as well as you feel you can has to be a struggle, almost by definition, because you could always improve.

I liked to write from the time I was about 12 or 13. I loved to read. And since I only spoke to my brother, I would write down my thoughts. And I think I wrote some of the worst poetry west of the Rockies. But by the time I was in my 20s, I found myself writing little essays and more poetry - writing at writing.

All experience helps when you write.

Write a lot and don't think about publishing - just the writing.

I wrote fiction during my entire childhood, from age 4 to 18, and started writing plays when I went to Yale and Oxford.

I got into writing in college... well, in elementary school. But in college, I started writing seriously and had a professor who read my writing and gave me permission to pursue that as a real effort and time-consuming effort.

The way you get better is putting words on the page and getting them behind you.

Write every day. Make writing a part of your life, but also don't be afraid of learning from others because I think you can. I still try to think of myself as a beginner because that way I can keep on learning.

Write every day even if it is just a paragraph.

Writing is a muscle that needs to be exercised.

With each book, you get better as a writer. There is no back door to the industry. Read in the genre you want to write, as the more you read, the better you will get as an author.

The first story I wrote was called 'Days,' and I have very little affection for it.

Writing can't be taught.