One of the more interesting things I've learnt since becoming a writer is that if you like the book, you'll generally like the person. It doesn't always work in reverse - there are huge numbers of lovely people out there writing not very good books.
I've never read anything so badly written that got published. It made 'Twilight' look like 'War and Peace.'
A horrible script 99 percent of the time means a horrible movie. But if you start with a good script, odds are you're going to have a good movie.
One paradox of professional writing is that books written solely for money and/or acclaim will almost never be good enough to garner either.
There is no left and right in writing. There is only good and bad writing.
I read a lot of scripts, and there's a lot of good writing and a lot of OK writing and a lot of crappy writing. And even with the really good writing, it doesn't necessarily speak to me.
Just as there is nothing between the admirable omelet and the intolerable, so with autobiography.
Bad writing is bad not just because the language is humdrum, but the quality of the observation is so poor.
Bad writing is not easier than good writing. It's just as hard to make a toilet seat as it is a castle window. Only the view is different.
If it's a good script I'll do it. And if it's a bad script, and they pay me enough, I'll do it.
There is a tendency for writers to be most exciting by whatever they just wrote. Sometimes that excitement is warranted. Sometimes on further listen it's not as good as something they did a couple of years ago, but it's just not in their sights at that particular time.
It didn’t matter the quality of the writing— Callie’s fantasies about her fictional heroes were entirely democratic.
Freedom of speech doesn't guarantee great literature.
I think finally good writing gets out there, and people like it, and bad writing doesn't. Well, no. Bad writing does get out there 'cause some people like it.
The books I've written the fastest were the best reviewed and sold the best.
If you sing beautifully about nothing, no one will listen. If you sing badly about great stuff, no one will listen. Ideas are everywhere, but my theory is that a writer doesn't just think of an idea: they perform them.
Television has raised writing to a new low.
Most books reviews aren't very well-written. They tend to be more about the reviewer than the book.
The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies.
There's certainly more new SF available than when I started writing. That means there's also more bad SF available. Whether there is also more good is a matter for future historians of the field.
I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.
Nearly all interested parties think I write too shortly on the subjects that interest them most.
If kids like a picture book, they're going to read it at least 50 times, and their parents are going to have to read it with them. Read anything that often, and even minor imperfections start to feel like gravel in the bed.
I used to distinguish between my fiction and nonfiction in terms of superiority or inferiority.
I think the thing that interests most actors these days is the strength and the quality of the writing. I think that's the main thing.
