Charles Stross Quotes

When I want to read a novel, I write one.

Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method.

I think I write in order to discover on my shelf a new book that I would enjoy reading, or to see a new play that would engross me.

I finish the book so I can see how it's going to end. I write that first sentence, and if it's the right first sentence, it leads to the right second sentence and three years later you have a 500-page manuscript, but it really is like going on a trip, going on a journey. It's a voyage.

I do not read the works of Salman Rushdie, I write them. By the time I have finished writing them all I can think of is never reading them again. It's so deep, your involvement with a book, that once it's finished, then you are really done with it.

I think one of the reasons I'm so thrilled with writing is because it is an act of reading for me at the same time, which is why my revisions are so sustained.

Writing a novel is a lot like reading one.

The most important thing for a writer to do is to write. It really doesn't matter what you write as long as you are able to write fluidly, very quickly, very effortlessly. It needs to become not second nature but really first nature to you. And read; you need to read and you need to read excellent books and then some bad books. Not as many bad books, but some bad books, so that you can see what both look like and why both are what they are.

I found some time ago that I have to be careful, while working on a novel, what I read.

I love to read, and I love to write. I love to read. You have no idea how many books I have.

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.

Like most authors, I also love to read.

I can write for a long time on one novel and not get tired.

Unfortunately, I don't get to read nearly as much as I want because I'm always working on my own stuff, either the novels or newspaper columns.

I've been writing for as long as I can remember, and reading even before that. My mom still has stories that I wrote when I was in kindergarten. I was a reader and a re-reader. That's the main reason I became a writer.

I would like to read some books: I don't have time; I would like to continue working on my autobiography.

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

When I'm working on a novel of my own, I try to read mostly nonfiction, although sometimes I break down and peek at something else.

Each book first begins with a little idea.

Anything you read can influence your work, so I try to read good stuff.

Since I make my living as a literary journalist, not a book scout, I spend inordinate amounts of time either reading or writing.

I love research. Sometimes I think writing novels is just an excuse to allow myself this leisurely time of getting to know a period and reading its books and watching its films. I see it as a real treat.

I love to read, and I've always loved to write.

I've found that writers who don't read really can't write.

As a kid, I dreamt of becoming a writer. My most exciting pastime was reading novels; in fact, I would read anything I could find.