Roger Ebert Quotes

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.

I don't know if there is any one secret to successful writing, but one important step is to move beyond imitation and discover what you can write that no one else can - that is, find out who you are and write that in an appropriate narrative and style.

Write for yourself, not for a perceived audience. If you do, you'll mostly fall flat on your face, because it's impossible to judge what people want. And you have to read. That's how you learn what is good writing and what is bad. Then the main thing is application. It's hard work.

Do not copy my style! The first rule of writing is write about what you know, not what you think you know. So, think about what you've done in your life and write about that.

TV is all about learning to write in someone else's voice, so if you do it long enough without selling your own project, they assume you don't have your own voice; you're just a good mimic.

It takes practice to do anything unique within this field, period, in writing, practice doing anything unique in writing.

There are millions of people who think that romance isn't real writing. But the only person who can make you real, make your books real, is you.

What provides you with subject matter is your own language - and that's all.

I can only say that I myself wrote always as I wished, without a tremendous desire to find the latest thing possible.

I fear becoming formulaic. Some of my books are.

I'm not trying to emulate William Faulkner. I never said I was.

You have to write your own story, your own graph and rhythm.

I think you can't help but write in your own voice.

I never want to co-write. People never just write a quarter of a book, do they? I don't think you can get your story across.

Most fiction writers are driven to find their own 'voice,' but I am more interested in the voices of others.

I see myself more like a novelist or a polygamist than a musician in terms of my output.

I would like to be able to write in my own voice.

I wish I could think of a suitable name for the kind of writing I do.

I don't consciously think of any certain direction when I'm writing. I only try not to be repetitive or redundant.

I had an advantage over a lot of people who had gone to school and earned degrees in writing and had learned the rules for writing, so to speak. My style was just to tell a story but to tell it well, and that has worked out for me so far.

On every new project, I try to write in a different way and see if there's a new side of myself I haven't explored.

After so many years, I don't really think writing has to be absolutely new. No. It has to be good work.

Writing in another person's voice is a skill you have to develop when you're working on someone else's show. But if you can maintain your perspective, that's what will make you stand out.

It doesn't require much thought for one to realise that any travel book worthy of the name has to be a departure from the standard idea of the form.

A lot of people talk to me about writing lyrics and it is obvious they are really paying attention to the fact that ours are different from a lot of other bands.