Being able to write an idea down succinctly doesn't make that idea any better than one which rambles on a bit. It just comes to the point sooner.
People always say, 'Write what you know', but I've always found that to be terrible advice. It's quite limiting, what you know.
My second husband encouraged me to go to a writing group at our local theatre. It was my 'coming out of the closet' moment.
For purposes of marketing, writers are designated as poets, novelists, or something else. But writing is about matchmaking, an attempt to marry sensations with apt words.
The reporter claimed he was going to write the article from my point of view. Instead, he made me sound like a little idiot. It made me never want to do another interview again.
Learn to write the same way you learn to play golf. You do it and keep doing it until you get it right.
The way jazz works is that we take a theme, and then we write using the same structure, same chord changes, and then we can do different tunes.
When I write, I do not like using ten dollar words. I like the fifty-centers. Everybody has fifty-cents, even those that are too proud to admit it.
I think everything we do, on one level or another, as writers, most of our writing is informed by our world view.
My writing is a very authentic journey of discovery. I'm going out there to learn who I am. My readers, consequently, take the same journey as my protagonist.
I can't think of anything worse than calling Shakespeare 'highbrow,' because on the one hand, it's brilliant writing. But his plays were popular. People went to see them.
When I write in the studio, I tend to gravitate toward the ability to play really loud, aggressive, post-punk stuff, with big, heavy guitars and a big rock drum sound.
The hardest part of writing is the first draft, and the closer you get to your deadline, the messier your workspace becomes - but that's the same with any creative outlet.
I admired what my students were writing, but I think their improvement doesn't directly result from me but from being in a class, being with each other.
I notice that students, particularly for gay students, it's too easy to write about my last trick or something. It's not very interesting to the reader.
If you’re a writer, your first duty, a duty you owe to yourself and your readers, and to your writing itself, is to become wonderful. To become the best writer you can possibly be.
We're journalists, so our default position is we're not writing editorial. We're trying to bring information to readers, viewers, so that they can make up their own conclusions.
I try to write fun - though difficult and challenging - things for actors to do, because I know if they're having fun, they're going to give it everything they got.
If I make you read, then I'll keep quiet. If I make you think, then I'll keep reading. If I make you smile, then I'll keep writing.
I'm more interested in interpersonal relationships - between lovers families, siblings. That's why I write about how we treat each other.
It's hard to write new stuff when the songs you have written before are still changing and evolving. It would be like building something when the foundations there are not really solid.
