So you want to become an auto mechanic. You search the internet for inspiration from world-famous auto mechanics.

Wait.

There aren’t any world-famous auto mechanics.

So many other things you might want to become are like that. If you want to learn, you actually have to take classes. You have to go out and meet people to get inspiration.

But a writer?

You realize, of course, that you became a writer in first grade. No one has any choice about that. Nonetheless, some people—maybe yourself included––grow up and aspire to become writers. That is, you want to put your words out where someone else will want to read them.

Who better to consult than other writers? You can find all kinds of advice from world-famous writers. Or even writers you never heard of before.

And I’ve compiled some for you. 

“If you wish to be a writer, write.” ― Epictetus

“A writer’s brain is like a magician’s hat. If you’re going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in it first” ― Louis L’Amour

“Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.” –William Faulkner

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” — Louis L’Amour

“Writers don’t suffer from insanity; they depend upon it!” ― Avijeet Das

“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing.” ― Margaret Chittenden

“I write in my head on the way home from work, or when mowing the lawn, or on a night out with friends. Sometimes I find the time to capture those words that are rolling through my mind, quivering and drumming and swimming, banging into each other until I can finally trick them and leak them out onto the page. And sometimes I don’t. Writers are like that” ― Karl Wiggins

“You say you have nothing to write about? How do you find things to talk about? You can write about those things you like to talk about; that’s your area of expertise” ― Bangambiki Habyarimana

“Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. When you’re conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader. He or she will recognize his or her life and truth in what you say, in the pictures you have painted, and this decreases the terrible sense of isolation that we have all had too much of.” ― Anne Lamott

“If you are a real writer, then just surrender to the writer’s life, all of it, even the bad stuff. When you do that, the beauty appears: the peace, the meaning, the joy, the fulfillment, the sense that you are doing what you were born to do and what could be better, in the end, than that?” ― Lauren B. Davis

“Don’t try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.” ― Arthur Freed

“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.” ― Octavia E. Butler

“Writers have come to master nearly every trade. They are inventors and entrepreneurs of character, plot, and dialogue. They are the eager scientists that can’t wait to try out their new experiment. They are the maestros of the symphony that plays in their head, conducting what happens, where, and at what precise moment. They are engineers and architects that design the structure of their piece so it stands the test of time and continues to fire on all cylinders. They play mechanics and doctors in their revisions, hoping they prescribe the correct diagnosis to fix the piece’s ‘boo boos’. They are salesmen who pitch not an idea or a product, but themselves, to editors, publishers, and more importantly, their readers. They are teachers who through their craft, preach to pupils about what works and what doesn’t work and why. Writers can make you feel, can make you think, can make you wonder, but they can also grab your hand and guide you through their maze. Similar to what Emerson stated in ‘The Poet,’ writers possess a unique view on life, and with their revolving eye, they attempt to encompass all. I am a writer.”
― Garrett Dennert

“A writer who doesn’t write is just not right.” ― Susan Oliver Nelson