30 Helpful Writing Tips from Famous Authors
These writing tips from famous authors are inspiring enough to get the motivation flowing.
These writing tips from famous authors are inspiring enough to get the motivation flowing.
Whenever we’re stuck in a period of writer’s block, we always turn to the pros for inspiration.
Here, we’ve gathered 30 of the best tips from famous authors, including everyone from John Steinbeck to Zadie Smith.
Every time we’re stuck, we read through this list and instantly feel a little more inspired and motivated to put pen to paper.
30 Writing Tips from Famous Authors
“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it's done. It's that easy, and that hard.” — Neil Gaiman
“If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” — Jodi Picoult
“Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day. It helps.” — John Steinbeck
“You have to get to a very quiet place inside yourself. And that doesn’t mean that you can’t have noise outside. I know some people who put Jazz on, loudly, to write. I think each writer has her or his secret path to the muse.” — Maya Angelo
“Writing a book is a bit like surfing . . . Most of the time you’re waiting. And it’s quite pleasant, sitting in the water waiting. But you are expecting that the result of a storm over the horizon, in another time zone, usually, days old, will radiate out in the form of waves. And eventually, when they show up, you turn around and ride that energy to the shore. It’s a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you’re lucky, it’s also about grace. As a writer, you roll up to the desk every day, and then you sit there, waiting, in the hope that something will come over the horizon. And then you turn around and ride it, in the form of a story.” — Tim Winton
“Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.” — Henry Miller
“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
"Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master." — William Faulkner
“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You must simply do things.” — Ray Bradbury
"Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you." — Zadie Smith
“Turn off your cell phone. Honestly, if you want to get work done, you’ve got to learn to unplug. No texting, no email, no Facebook, no Instagram. Whatever it is you’re doing, it needs to stop while you write. A lot of the time (and this is fully goofy to admit), I’ll write with earplugs in — even if it’s dead silent at home.” — Nathan Englander
“Don’t say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.” — Mark Twain
“I’ve decided that the trick is just to keep after it for several hours, regardless of your own vacillating assessment of how the writing is going. Showing up and staying present is a good writing day.” — Karen Russel
"There's this feeling in the world that artistic ability is just a gift and there's nothing else to it. I think it's a skill set. It's no different from math. It's a thing you need to learn how to do—you need to practice it, you need to get better at it." — Andy Weir
“You learn so much with each book, but it's what you teach yourself by writing your own books and by reading good books written by other people - that's the key.” — Maggie O’Farrell
“The most helpful quality a writer can cultivate is self-confidence – arrogance, if you can manage it. You write to impose yourself on the world, and you have to believe in your own ability when the world shows no sign of agreeing with you.” — Hilary Mantel
“I often recall these words when I am writing, and I think to myself, 'It’s true. There aren’t any new words. Our job is to give new meanings and special overtones to absolutely ordinary words.' I find the thought reassuring. It means that vast, unknown stretches still lie before us, fertile territories just waiting for us to cultivate them.” — Haruki Murakami
“I try to focus on word count per day. So when I do first drafts, I aim to write a set word count every Monday - Friday until the book is done. That means that I can usually predict the day the book will be done when I start it.” — Taylor Jenkins Reid
“Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.” — Kurt Vonnegut
“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” — E.B. White
“Your character is always right. No real person thinks they’re being stupid or misguided or bigoted or evil or just plain wrong – so your characters can’t, either. If you’re writing a scene for a character with whom you disagree in every way, you still need to show how that character is absolutely justified in his or her own mind, or the scene will come across as being about the author’s views rather than about the character’s.” — Tana French
“To really be centered and to really work well and to think about the kinds of things that I need to think about, I need to spend large amounts of time alone.” — Donna Tartt
“Writing must almost have to fail - it must almost not succeed. If it goes well from the start, if I am in the groove, if I come home to writing, it's not the writing for me. I need to have lost the key and to find no replacement. Writing is not a homecoming. Writing is an alibi. Writing is a perpetual stammer of alibis.” — André Aciman
"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." — Stephan King
“Love is the most important ingredient. Love of words. Of your characters and their flaws. Of truth. You are playing God, but it has to be a loving God.” — Matt Haig
“Write from the heart, write what you believe in, take the time to learn how to write with workshops and classes, and write write write! Every day. Believe in yourself and don't ever give up.” — Kristen Hannah
“Never have an argument with your wife before sitting down to write. It is impossible to write well when your wife is upstairs, royally pissed off with you. Your computer knows she’s pissed at you. Your fingers know she’s pissed at you. Your words know she’s pissed at you. Just stop, go upstairs and say you’re sorry for being such a self-absorbed prick. Then go back downstairs when the timing is right for everyone and watch those words smile back at you.” — Trent Dalton
“Write what scares you. If it’s not scaring you, at least a little, it’s probably not taking enough risks.” — Celeste Ng
“Making it a routine is a gigantic part of it. One corollary of that— and this is probably the most important thing for me— is being willing to write really badly. It won’t hurt you to do that.” — Jennifer Egan
“No matter how stuck I am, I always figure something out from a walk-- something about the motion of my body gets my mind moving as well.” — Madeline Miller
What quote inspires you the most? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear!
Now that you’re feeling motivated, check out some of our top tips for becoming a better writer.
Scrawl Creative Copywriting Studios is a collective of professional writers dedicated to producing the best copy in the industry.
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What is NaNoWriMo?
If you love writing like we do, chances are someone has told you to participate in NaNoWriMo. But wait, what is NaNoWriMo?
If you love writing like we do, chances are someone has told you to participate in NaNoWriMo. But wait, what is NaNoWriMo?
Well, before you get in on the fun, it’s obviously super important to at least know what NaNoWriMo is.
To find out what it is, how it works, and find out which famous novels that came from NaNoWriMo, keep scrolling.
What is NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo stands for “National Novel Writing Month”, and is the name of both an event (the writing month) and organisation (named NaNoWriMo). As the name suggests, NaNoWriMo encourages writers to “find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page.”
While NaNoWriMo does have a Young Writers Program, participation in the novel writing month is open to anyone! To achieve the goal of NaNoWriMo, writers are encouraged to spend the month producing 50,000 words towards a new novel. Of course, anyone can participate, online or off, but if you’re seeking a community this is a great opportunity to register online and become a part of something bigger than yourself.
Those who register online are given access to a login portal, with a plethora of writing tools and resources to help you during the month and beyond. Within the portal, you can find writing buddies, forums, and tons of resources to help you achieve your writing goals.
How Do You Sign Up?
Signing up for NaNoWriMo is super easy! All you have to do is head over to NaNoWriMo’s website and click “Sign Up” in the upper right hand corner.
While the actual novel writing month begins November 1, you can sign up for an account any time of year and get access to all the resources that NaNoWriMo has to offer.
Were Any Famous Novels Written During NaNoWriMo?
While it may sound crazy, NaNoWriMo is the perfect incubator for future novels to arise. Considering the dedication required to “win” (AKA complete) the challenge, it only makes sense that several famous novels were born from this challenge.
Here are a few examples of novels that came out of NaNoWriMo:
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (one of my personal favourites)
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
The Beautiful Land by Alan Averill
Cinder, Scarlet and Cress by Marissa Meyer (all 3 in one month!)
Having a writing buddy can help you commit to a writing project like NaNoWriMo. Explore the idea, here.
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What Do Copywriters Do? (And Why Every Writer Should Try It)
Today we’re going to answer one very common question: What do copywriters do?
Today we’re going to answer one very common question: What do copywriters do?
If you’re on the hunt for writing jobs, you’ve likely seen listings searching for copywriters. But for those who are new to the writing world, this terminology can be a little bit confusing. Fear not, though. It’s really straightforward.
Mediabistro sums it up perfectly: “A copywriter creates clear, compelling copy to sell products and/or educate and engage consumers.” The work a copywriter does can come in many forms. Brand blog posts, social media captions, newsletter blasts, or the text you see on ads. Any writing that promotes a brand can be considered “copywriting.”
While this may not sound like your dream job, it’s a great source of revenue for writers of all stripes. If you’re just starting, we strongly suggest that you consider and actively seek out copywriting opportunities.
To learn more about copywriting and find out why I recommend that all writers give it a go, keep reading.
What Do Copywriters Do?
As we touched on before, copywriters create all types of written materials for brands. Usually, this looks like marketing content: Blog posts, email newsletters, or captions for social media posts.
While some brands may have an in-house copywriter, it’s usually a job that sits within a larger marketing department. Just like any other marketing material, copywriting serves the purpose of promoting a brand or building a stronger brand identity.
Knowing this, copywriters create content that will not only inform potential customers about the brand, but they also ensure that their writing matches the brand’s voice and image.
On the face of it, copywriting is writing to sell products, but if you dig a little deeper you can see that it’s also about building a brand’s image.
Copywriting jobs vary from one brand to the next. It might be a permanent role, with one person creating all written content for a brand. It might be the responsibility of a marketing coordinator who writes all Instagram captions and newsletters. It might be a job that a company hires contractors to complete, periodically hiring when they need more content.
This means that someone who works as a copywriter can look like any of these:
Someone in the marketing department, who is in charge of creating all written content
Someone who works within a marketing agency, and is contracted out to clients who need copywriting services
Someone who works for themself as a freelancer, working for multiple brands at a time
Why You Should Consider Copywriting
We know that not many writers set out to become professional copywriters, using their words to sell someone else’s products. But whether or not you like the idea, we think that every writer can benefit from working as a copywriter at some point.
In our opinion, copywriting teaches you some very useful skills, which will benefit you throughout your entire career:
Dedication to a project: When you have a copywriting contract, you need to complete it. Having the constraints of a predetermined agreement will force you to complete the work you’ve promised to complete within a designated period. This is great for your overall work-ethic, but is especially beneficial to writers. As a writer, you likely have a few ideas of projects you dream of completing in your life: A best-selling novel, a groundbreaking investigative deep-dive in the New York Times. Whatever it is you have your sights on, you’re not going to be able to write that thing without dedication. Learning dedication to a project early on can teach you how to stick with something, even when it gets difficult or boring.
Working within constraints: Copywriting teaches you to work within constraints, writing to fit a particular style or content form. While this might sound limiting, it’s a great way to flex your creative muscles. Writing without any inhibitions is a great way to let it all flow, but sometimes a bit of direction works wonders for writing. Working within thematic, tonal and structural constraints will force you to get out of your comfort zone, and practice writing in ways that you may not be used to.
Mastering tone and voice: A major component of copywriting is to reflect a brand’s image with words. Every brand has a different vibe, a different target audience and a different way that they want to interact with customers. For each brand you work with as a copywriter, you need to adjust the tone and voice of your writing to reflect these aspects of the brand you’re writing for. By writing for different brands, you will soon begin to develop new techniques for conveying similar messages in new ways. While it’s great to have a signature style, it’s also very valuable to know how to adopt different ones when need be.
If you’re starting to think that copywriting sounds like a good idea, browse online for open positions. You might love it, or you might hate it. But you’ll never know unless you try!
Have any more questions about copywriting? Let me know in the comments below, and I’ll do my best to give a good answer.
If you found this post helpful, you. might also like: How to Become a Better Writer