Writers Write

'The research and plotting is very much left-brained, a very logical process, and one that I think can be learned. The actual writing, the flow of words, description, dialogue—all of these are right-brained. That’s where the passion comes in. When writing is going well, it’s like being plugged into a cosmic socket. There’s no other experience that compares with it.' ~Deborah Crombie

I’m endlessly fascinated by the process of writing, because to have come to it in the middle of my life as someone more conscious and more cognizant and maybe more self-aware than I would have been had I been doing this in my twenties, it’s really interesting. It’s interesting to watch your hand move across the page and be like, ‘Look at that. There is a thing that did not exist minutes ago. There is a sentence and a string of words.’ ~Sonya Walger

'I’ve heard somebody say that some writers are architects and some are gardeners; I’m absolutely a gardener. I know the characters, I know the world, and then the story moves forward and flowers up. That’s not to say that I don’t have a plan, it’s mostly that I don’t chain myself to my plans and expectations. I like to leave myself open for beautiful accidents, for strange things to happen, and then I want to pursue those. That can be hard if you’ve shackled yourself to an outline.' ~Patrick Rothfuss

Geoff Dyer is a British author, born on 5 June 1958. In this post, we share the award-winning writer's 10 rules for writing fiction.

The Ultimate Checklist For Writing A Memoir

'I’m a ferocious outliner. I can’t begin a book unless I know where it’s going and how it gets there. I refine the story in my head over and over again before I’m ready to start, trying out all the possibilities I can imagine and discarding the ones that don’t work for me. Before I start, I write quite a detailed synopsis and more or less stick to it. Along the way, I often come up with alternative methods of achieving something, but they don’t take me far off course.' ~Val McDermid

How To Find Your Story’s Theme In 3 Simple Steps 

'In a traditional narrative, an author writes dramatic scenes. They show the big moments, not tell them. With an epistolary novel, it’s the opposite… You tell everything, even the big plot points, and you have to tell them slant.' ~Virginia Evans

'Write. Then you’re not ‘aspiring’ anymore and that’s a really good first step. Other than that I don’t think anyone should take my advice because I honestly don’t really know what I’m doing.' ~Fredrik Backman