Writing Tips From Famous Writers (Harsh But So True!)

The artistic temperament - is it something you are born with or something you can develop? Whatever the answer, simply by having one, you can’t automatically claim to be an artist! Even the most famous and successful writers have tried and failed, have been rejected, have almost given up, and have been told their work was not good enough.

Even if you are the most fantastic, talented writer of all time, not everyone will agree - and you are likely to have to go through some pretty tough rejection before you receive your critical acclaim. So with this in mind, here are some of the lessons and tips that famous writers have learned along the way - they might be harsh, but they certainly put things in perspective, and in a way, it’s comforting to know that we’ve all got to go through it!

‘No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader’ - Robert Frost

‘If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy’. – Dorothy Parker

‘Notice how many of the Olympic athletes effusively thanked their mothers for their success? “She drove me to my practice at four in the morning,” etc. Writing is not figure skating or skiing. Your mother will not make you a writer. My advice to any young person who wants to write is: leave home’. -Paul Theroux

‘I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.’ -Douglas Adams

‘I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide’. — Harper Lee

‘Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand’. — George Orwell

‘If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time — or the tools — to write’. Simple as that. – Stephen King

‘If writing seems hard, it’s because it is hard. It’s one of the hardest things people do’. – William Zinger

‘Write drunk, edit sober’. – Ernest Hemingway

‘The old writer’s rule applies: Have the courage to write badly’. – Joshua Wolf Shenk

‘Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that — but you are the only you’. ― Neil Gaiman

‘Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative’. – Oscar Wilde

‘Don’t take anyone’s writing advice too seriously’. – Lev Grossman

‘There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you’ - Maya Angelou

‘If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it’. - Tony Morrison
So there you have it! Will you take their advice? What are your favourite pieces of advice from your favourite authors? We’d love to hear them!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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