Writing Tips from Famous Authors (PLUS List of the Best Notebooks & Book Journals)
![Writing Tips from Famous Authors (PLUS List of the Best Notebooks & Book Journals)](https://i0.wp.com/thepauperprincess.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Copy-of-Copy-of-Copy-of-Quotes-Template-2.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1)
“I have advice for people who want to write. I don’t care whether they’re 5 or 500. There are three things that are important: First, if you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think about things, what you think is fair and what you think is unfair. And second, you need to read. You can’t be a writer if you’re not a reader. It’s the great writers who teach us how to write. The third thing is to write. Just write a little bit every day. Even if it’s for only half an hour — write, write, write.”
― Madeleine L’Engle
“Whenever I’m asked what advice I have for young writers, I always say that the first thing is to read, and to read a lot. The second thing is to write. And the third thing, which I think is absolutely vital, is to tell stories and listen closely to the stories you’re being told.”
― John Green
“John Ronald Reuel Tolkien wrote his first story aged seven. It was about a “green great dragon.” He showed it to his mother who told him that you absolutely couldn’t have a green great dragon, and that it had to be a great green one instead. Tolkien was so disheartened that he never wrote another story for years.
The reason for Tolkien’s mistake, since you ask, is that adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac. It’s an odd thing that every English speaker uses that list, but almost none of us could write it out. And as size comes before colour, green great dragons can’t exist.”
― The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase by Mark Forsyth
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
― Maya Angelou
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
― Madeleine L’Engle
“I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English―it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them―then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.”
― Mark Twain
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
― Ernest Hemingway
“To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words. Whoever writes English is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence. He is struggling against vagueness, against obscurity, against the lure of the decorative adjective, against the encroachment of Latin and Greek, and, above all, against the worn-out phrases and dead metaphors with which the language is cluttered up.”
― George Orwell
“Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either.”
― Meg Cabot
“Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate and the governor is out of the country and there’s no chance for a pardon. Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God’s sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves. Take a deep breath and tell us your deepest, darkest secret, so we can wipe our brow and know that we’re not alone. Write like you have a message from the king. Or don’t. Who knows, maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to.”
― Alan Wilson Watts
“Heinlein’s Rules for Writers
Rule One: You Must Write
Rule Two: Finish What Your Start
Rule Three: You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order
Rule Four: You Must Put Your Story on the Market
Rule Five: You Must Keep it on the Market until it has Sold.”
― Robert A. Heinlein
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”
― Jodi Picoult
“In the final exam in the Chaucer course we were asked why he used certain verbal devices, certain adjectives, why he had certain characters behave in certain ways. And I wrote, ‘I don’t think Chaucer had any idea why he did any of these things. That isn’t the way people write.’
I believe this as strongly now as I did then. Most of what is best in writing isn’t done deliberately.”
― Madeleine L’Engle
“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”
― Dr. Seuss
“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”
― Richard Bach
“Writing is supposed to be difficult, agonizing, a dreadful exercise, a terrible occupation.”
― Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You by Ray Bradbury
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”
― Robert Frost
For Tips on Writing from Stephen King, keep scrolling.
Top Rated Journals for rEADERS
Book Journals/Book Logs
“For the Love of Books”
Hardcover
Special pages for books you’ve read, your reviews, favorite quotes, etc.
Quality paper, well organized, ample space, large
52 Book Logs
Great for Bookworms!
“For the Love of Books: A Reading Journal For Teens”
Hardcover
Special pages for books you’ve read, your reviews, favorite quotes, etc.
Quality paper, well organized, ample space, large
52 Book Logs
Great for teens who love books
“For the Love of Books: A Reading Journal for Kids”
Hardcover
Special pages for books you’ve read, your reviews, favorite quotes, etc.
Quality paper, well organized, ample space, large
52 Book Logs
Great for kids who love reading!
“My Reading Adventure: A Book Journal for Kids”
Hardcover
Designed specifically for younger readers (ages 7-12)
Includes book recommendations, reading related activities, and 90 book logs
Great for kids!
“The Book Lover’s Journal”
Spiral bound hardcover
Small size
66 book logs, 2 pages per book
Not just a reading log – pages for topics including Books that Changed My Life, Literary Places I’d Like to Visit, My Childhood Favorites, etc.
Great for avid readers!
“My Reading Life: A Book Journal”
Special pages for books you’ve read, your reviews, favorite quotes, etc.
100 Book Logs
Small enough to carry in a purse, but some say it doesn’t give a lot of room for writing reviews/quotes
Great for all readers!
“Reading Log”
Paperback or Hardcover
More simplified than others, 100 pages, 1 page per book
Good for a simple, concise log
“The Book Club Journal”
Paperback
100+ book logs, 2 pages per book
Space for notes, rating, review, etc.
Great for book club members!
Tips on Writing by Stephen King
FROM ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”
“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”
“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”
“In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.”
“If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”
“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.”
“So okay― there you are in your room with the shade down and the door shut and the plug pulled out of the base of the telephone. You’ve blown up your TV and committed yourself to a thousand words a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want.”
“You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.”
“Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
“I have spent a good many years since―too many, I think―being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.”
“I like to get ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words. That’s 180,000 words over a three-month span, a goodish length for a book — something in which the reader can get happily lost, if the tale is done well and stays fresh.”
“The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.”
“The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.”
“Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”
“I believe the first draft of a book — even a long one — should take no more than three months.”
Best Notebooks for Writing, DRAWING, AND OTHER ARTS
Peter Pauper Press Journals (not affiliated or related in any way to The Pauper Princess)
Hardcover
blank lined pages
160 pages
5″x7″
Reviews say it is aesthetic, portable, sturdy, and budget friendly
Great for writing or journaling
“One Poem a Day: A Writer’s Daily Journal of Words and Inspiration”
Paperback
288 pages of poem prompts
Reviews say it is unique, gets your creativity flowing, and makes you think outside of the box
Great for poets and creative writers
“The Wildflower’s Workbook”
Artistic pages with guided mindfulness journaling
Great for artsy nature lovers!
“Dot Grid Watercolor Journal”
Linen Hardcover with Slipcover
160gsm thickness watercolor paper can take watercolors, water-based markers, pencils, and more
Reviews say alcohol markers do bleed through, but that it’s very good quality for using liquid or solid watercolors.
Perfect for watercolor art
“Music Listography: Your Life in Music Lists”
Journaling with lists organized by 70+ thought provoking prompts about music, including “saddest songs”, “favorite songs from the –‘s”, “music from your high school years”, and more.
watercolor illustrations
Great for musicians!
“Film Listography: Your Life in Movie Lists”
Journaling with lists organized by 70+ thought provoking prompts about music, including “film stars you’d like to date”, “movie sets you’d want to live on”, and “books you’d like to see adapted”.
watercolor illustrations
Great for movie buffs!