The 101 Habits Of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insider's Secrets from Hollywood's Top Writers: Insider Secrets from Hollywood's Top Writers

I think most of the fear comes at the very beginning, before we start writing. But after I bitch and moan to myself, this other voice comes in and says, “Will you just start?”

But then I say, “What the heck, I’ll just amuse myself.”

“I really want to write fiction. What writing courses should I take?” He said, “Never, ever, ever take a writing course, never read a book about writing, never let anybody tell you how to write. Take literature courses, read, steal, turn everything to your interpretation. As soon as you take a writing course, it’s the beginning of the end, because

My only big fear about writing is that I’m so odd, that what fascinates me, the things I’m giving myself to completely, will turn out to be of no interest to anyone else. It will be so personal and idiosyncratic that no one will think it’s funny and no one will feel sad when they get to that part and I will be the only one to care.

The people I work with die when I tell them to die, make love when I tell them to make love, and cry when I tell them to cry.

Realize that if you have time to whine and complain about something, you have time to do something about it. —ANONYMOUS

What’s a writer? Someone who writes. Planning to write is not writing. Outlining a book is not writing. Researching is not writing. Talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing. —E. L. DOCTOROW