Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person. - F. Scott Fitzgerald

I used to be afraid about what people might say or think after reading what I had written. I am not afraid anymore, because when I write, I am not trying to prove anything to anyone, I am just expressing myself and my opinions. It’s ok if my opinions are different from those of the reader, each of us can have his own opinions. So writing is like talking, if you are afraid of writing, you may end up being afraid of talking. - Bangambiki Habyarimana

Sentences must stir in a book like leaves in a forest, each distinct from each despite their resemblance. - Gustave Flaubert

A novel must show how the world truly is, how characters genuinely think, how events actually occur. A novel should somehow reveal the true source of our actions. - Kevin Hood

Continuity isn’t actually something that I ever worry about. You use it where you need to, and you don’t use it where you don’t need to. - Neil Gaiman

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter - it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. - Mark Twain

Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something - Plato

I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread. - JRR Tolkein

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important. - Gary Provost

Dialogue is not just quotation. It is grimaces, pauses, adjustments of blouse buttons, doodles on a napkin, and crossings of legs. - Jerome Stern