Tim O'Brien Quotes

If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what you want to say.

I have grown in my writing and I care about it now and I know how important it is to write stuff.

No, absolutely not, writing doesn't have to be like a jigsaw puzzle, it can be a very linear undertaking.

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

I think that writers are best served by sticking to their writing. Not having loads of theories about the best way to position the writing. I think that if the writing is good and the point of view is strong, the writing is going to take care of itself.

There are seldom more than a couple of students in any workshop who seem natural writers.

Once I had all the facts in, I found I didn't have the immoral courage to pull the caper. So I wrote it as a story. As a teenager, I didn't have any skills for writing as such, so it came out in 1500 words.

I'm not a born writer, and I don't enjoy writing.

The way to write is well, and how is your own business.

It's really hard to talk about writing, and I'm usually conscious if I'm misleading people or misleading the questioner, because the problem with writing is the next line.

The real trouble with the writing game is that no general rule can be worked out for uniform guidance, and this applies to sales as well as to writing.

I work at the sentences. Many of the things people find distinctive about my writing, I think of as natural.

That's something that is almost accidental at the beginning of a career, but the more you write, the more trained you are to recognize the little signals.

I'm not as good a writer as I'd like to be; therefore, I like to use images to tell stories.

I think some aspects of writing can be taught. Obviously, you can't teach vision or talent. But you can help with comfort.

I'm a pretty decent writer. It comes easy to me. I don't agonize over sentences. I write like I talk. I try to make them good books.

Writing is just very difficult. I'm an adequate performer. And I think I have a special talent as an editor. Editing is what I do best.

Early on, it's good to develop the ability to write. Learning to write is a useful exercise, even if what you're writing about is not that relevant.

I write fast, I write beautifully, I write convincingly.

Writing is hard - writing is the hardest.

You have to go where the good writing is.

There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.

I think if the writing comes too easily, it shows - it's usually hard to read.

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?

There are a lot of elements when you're writing, or when I'm writing, that are sitting in the back of your mind. I try to let them stay there, because they find their way in more naturally that way.