Writing Prompts Quotes

Normally book ideas come to me in a moment.

Young writers reasonably say, 'I don't know what to write about,' so writing about yourself is a very literal way to begin.

A lot of my ideas for books come from newspaper articles. But I don't like to be actively looking for ideas.

I'm not a writer. I haven't written anything.

Sometimes I'll have an idea for a story or have a subject, and that will inspire lyrics, but most of the time, hopefully, they already exist somewhere else.

Just write what comes to you.

I've just been writing stuff down as it comes to me. I haven't thought, 'Let me write some major opus here.'

Way back in my mid-20s, I started making notes. I would just jot things down: lists of street names, songs, peculiar turns of speech, jokes, whatever.

I like high school and college writing textbooks and find them very helpful. Whenever I'm stuck and seem to have no ideas, I open one up and turn to the back. There I'll find questions like, "Have you had any experiences with an alcoholic or a sailor?"

My books always begin with a sentence and an image - not necessarily connected.

You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I've only ever had one.

I think 90% of my ideas evaporate because I have a terrible memory and because I seem to be committed to not scribble anything down. As soon as I write it down, my mind rejects it.

My perfect day is sitting in a room with some blank paper. That's heaven. That's gold, and anything else is just a waste of time.

I love my journal as much as I love my phone. I find it to be a big part of my self-care to reflect on my day and write words that inspire me or paste business cards and pictures.

word thrower … phrase maker

Each book first begins with a little idea.

A diary means yes indeed.

We never write anything with themes. We just write the same rubbish all the time.

I'm a really slow writer. What I need to start writing on any given day, is a kernel, a line of dialogue, anything I can sense concretely.

If you give a writer a pile of blank paper and say you can write anything you like on any subject you want at any length you want, you will probably never get anything at all, whereas if you have 900 words to write, and it's fiction that is somehow op-ed fiction, and it needs to tie in with Halloween . . . okay, those are my constraints, that's where I now need to start building something.

I don't keep a journal.

I write short stories when a little idea occurs to me, that I know isn't a part of a novel that will stand by itself and should be concentrated.

I have no plans for a future Jemima Shore mystery, but would write one tomorrow if a good idea came to me.

One handy piece of equipment, which I recommend to any writer of fiction, is a set of Myriorama cards. I consult them frequently.

I keep a journal, like many writers do. It helps in writing a story, as you can use an incident from the journal and put in your story.