Tracy Chevalier Quotes

It's not knowing how to write that makes you interesting, it's what you write.

Readers would email me and say, 'Please write a novel about so-and-so,' but it has to come from yourself and not so much from your readership.

I prefer writing originals.

I think anything that anyone writes that's any good is going to have a lot of autobiography.

There's actually nothing interesting about me except what I write.

I write from my imagination, not from what I've read in books or seen on TV or to make money. I wrote from an idea I was passionate about.

Why my interest in writers? Well, I'm one, and many of my friends are writers. I know what it's like to write. I'm interested in the creative process. I'm fascinated by the disparity between who we are on the outside, and what we have bubbling away inside us.

There are two kinds of writers; the great ones who can give you truths, and the lessor ones, who can only give you themselves.

I like writing my own material - I'm pretty good at it.

Do not copy my style! The first rule of writing is write about what you know, not what you think you know. So, think about what you've done in your life and write about that.

I always try to find things worth saying, things that are supposed to be said instead of being contrived. I do a ton of writing.

There are millions of people who think that romance isn't real writing. But the only person who can make you real, make your books real, is you.

Write the story you need to tell and want to read. It's impossible to know what others want, so don't waste time trying to guess.

In a way, there's nothing new under the sun, so anything you write about has been written about by other people. All you can do is bring yourself to it, bring as much honesty as you can to it.

I like to tell my own story using my personality and my insight, the way I see things.

I think I started writing because no one had ever told me you can write about the things you know in a musical. They don't have to come from some far off place.

I really think that if there's any one enemy to human creativity, especially creative writing, it's self-consciousness.

In my opinion, trying to guess what readers want is the wrong approach. You have to tell your story as best you can and as true to yourself as possible. You have to be honest and fair and vulnerable and foolish and brave, and not care what anyone thinks of it.

The formula for creative writing in high school or college is write what you know.

Write what you know will always be excellent advice for those who ought not to write at all. Write what you think, what you imagine, what you suspect!

I like the idea that Ernest Hemingway always wrote about certain things he knew, he knew the ins and outs, back to fronts of what he was talking about. I love that as an inspiration for myself, to keep it true to what you know. I'm always writing little lines and saving them for later.

What's interesting about writing is the invention, the creative thing. Writing about myself is a yawn.

Write what you would love to read. Finish what you begin to write. Your voice is uniquely yours and we are all waiting to hear it.

Write what you want to read. The person you know best in this world is you. Listen to yourself. If you are excited by what you are writing, you have a much better chance of putting that excitement over to a reader.

When you write down your life, every page should contain something no one has ever heard about.