Sarah Waters Quotes

I think writing and reading are completely synergistic; not necessarily in that one has to be a good reader to be a good writer or vice versa, but that they so inform each other.

We are now in want of an art to teach how books are to be read rather than to read them. Such an art is practicable.

We read often with as much talent as we write.

Learning how to be a good reader is what makes you a writer.

I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to write is to read, and I see writing and reading as completely related. One almost couldn't exist without the other.

Focus in on the genre you want to write, and read books in that genre. A LOT of books by a variety of authors. And read with questions in your mind.

The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book.

You learn to write by reading, and my experiences and tastes as a reader are pretty wide.

There is creative reading as well as creative writing.

To be a good editor or a good writer, I think you really need to be a great reader first.

I really think that reading is just as important as writing when you're trying to be a writer because it's the only apprenticeship we have, it's the only way of learning how to write a story.

Read! Read! Read! And then read some more. When you find something that thrills you, take it apart paragraph by paragraph, line by line, word by word, to see what made it so wonderful. Then use those tricks next time you write.

For my students who are trying to learn the craft of writing in a writing class - contemporary literature is what's most useful.

You can't write if you don't read.

I think the cardinal rule of learning to write is learning to read first. I learned to write by learning to read.

So I grew up in a very book-friendly environment and my education as a writer was reading. I think that's the best education. Reading, and taking from the people I admired.

The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary.

I wanted to become a writer. I enjoyed reading as a child.

I, personally, have found reading a continual support to writing.

I excelled in English while I was at school.

I was also in love with the English language.

Read as much as you can, and then sit down and write.

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.

One can't write without having read - you have to read before beginning to write - and universities offer a very good opportunity to read.

I take a real interest in the possibilities of teaching - including the practice of bringing creative writing, and serious reading, into the classroom. I am persuaded that since language is alive, much of the challenge has already been met by the poets and novelists we read.