And 16 Writer’s Quotes To Accompany These Summaries

“If you wish to be a writer, write.”

Epictetus (‘First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do’)

When I write I always think about what would all of these ancient wise philosophers and geniuses think about my work. I do think that the moment there is proof that you’ve written something that’s readable, and published it for the grand public, then you are already a writer.

“If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.”

Toni Morrison (Beloved, The bluest eye)

I don’t know if what I write has already been written before. But what I know is that I went to find my writing ideas inside of my own ocean, I did my own research to go find the answers, I wrote what I wanted to read, and I wrote passionately.

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write.”

Margaret Atwood (The handmaid’s tale)

When I began my writing adventure I was filled with fears and doubts, knowingly that I didn’t write skillfully nor perfectly, but still, I tried to write something everyday, and this even if it was one sentence or two, and even though that one sentence was filled with grammatical errors and bad syntax. But I didn’t give up, I just can’t resolve myself to throw my work at sea, I want to ameliorate it — thus I continued to practice my writing skills, even though most of the time I scribble nonsense.

I still struggle to write beautiful sentences, but it’s okay, for it shows me the flaws that I need to work on. These first drafts of mine are total craps, unintelligible, and filled with mistakes, and it took me a long time to understand that the first process of writing is in fact to write what I want without caring about the imperfections, because it’s only after various editing phases and re-reads that my work attain a somewhat good level of readability.

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

Stephen King (Misery, Pet semetary, The shining)

I experienced the fact that my writing skills developed through either reading (whether fiction or non-fiction), and as well as through the action of writing every day, even if it’s noting down silly things.

Thing is, if you want to develop your own writing style, you will have to write a lot until your mind impregnates itself of your own personality, until that your consciousness mingles with your work. And you need to read a lot so as to teach yourself contextual relationship, which will enable you to compose your work as you wish to.

“I started out as a poet. I’ve always been a poet since I was 7 or 8. And so I feel myself to be fundamentally a poet who got into writing novels.”

Alice Walker (The color purple)

I didn’t started to write from a very young age, though I read a lot, and where poetry was my personal getaway. I had notebooks filled with poems, I exchanged poems with friends, I collected and cherished them, I even tried to write some, and before writing my first book I had written some poems on my former blog lovelyricism. Thus what I write can’t be qualified as prose or technical writing, for my writing style is much more flowery and metaphorical, the sentences I write are full of stop, they are lines, they are more poetic and aerial, there’s repetitions of words, I write paragraphs as if I was writing mini poems.

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.”

Neil gaiman (Coraline, Stardust)

One word after another, it’s that easy and that hard, let me tell you why. For me to sit down to type turtleishly these words isn’t that hard; for me it is the part of describing the images in my head that seems arduous. I want the flow of those descriptive words and sentences to be as perfect as I imagine them to be. I want my sentences to be so meaningful that they form images in the mind of the reader; I want my writings to become getaways, I want the reader to have a live experience — but of course, it’s more easy said than done😅, only wishes I wish would come true.

As I come from a multilingual country, where everyday we alternate the way we talk, read, and listen (alternate French, English, and Creole), it has, and it is still difficult for me to structure the type of context that I want to convey to high-standard readers.

“Start writing no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”

Louis L’amour (Lonely on the mountain)

The first process of writing is to start writing itself, and because I’m a busy mom, I’ve tried all sorts of ways and tricks to come up with stories, or imagine scenes while I am doing my house chores, but it didn’t worked for me. My ideas only come when I am actually writing… I guess that the writer’s muse doesn’t like to stay imprisoned in the world of imagination, but loves to actually see the work concretise.

Even one word typed on screen or written on a sheet of paper while you sit in a calm space can set your imagination in motion, and open the faucet from which flows beautiful ideas. No matter what, just start writing, and the rest shall follow. That’s what happens to me all the time, and in the end, passion always take over.

“I started writing to please myself, a story I would like to read, and that is still true.”

Jean M.Auel (the clan of the cave bear, which is my favourite book of all time. ‘Creb’ is inspired from one of the main CHARACTER of that book)

Truth, there is nothing more pleasing to me than to sit down as to type stories and poems that I would want to see on a screen, or that I would have liked reading — like some sort of deliverance. I love books and movies, and songs too. And whether if I am writing a story or a poem, I always start to write for an audience in my head. The stories need to look like movie scenes that I would love to watch, and the poems I write need to be like songs that I would like to hear.

“Very few writers know what they are doing until they’ve done it.”

Anne Lamott (Bird by bird)

In the beginning I didn’t know what I was really doing; I knew that I wanted to write, I knew that I needed to practice my writing skills, but how to do it, how to get there, the process, and all the steps that concern creative writing only came slowly to me as I gradually made my way through that thick jungle of writing.

“A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.”

Franz Kafka (The metamorphosis)

It happened that I stopped writing for some time, for I had lost all the needed motivation and determination to write, and I fell in a pit of desperation; my thoughts were a mess, my head and heart heavy, and I only felt light and free only when I started to write again. And even then I had great difficulty to write, though the inspiration was there, as if my brain rusted during these moments of pause.

“Finish your novel, because you learn more that way than any other.”

James Scott Bell (The art of war for writers)

‘It is by forging that one becomes a blacksmith’. ‘It is by sailing that one becomes a sailor’. ‘It is by cooking that one becomes a cook’. ‘It is by writing that one becomes a writer’. ‘Practice makes perfect’. So without a doubt I knew that if I dedicated myself to the craft of writing, though how hard it is, I was sure that I would be able to do it. Writing a book was an audacious thing to do, seeing that I had to start from scratch, and that my blog posts were complete craps — I am sure that it turned me into a laughing stock, while others surely thought that I was completely insane.

But reality is, behind that moumoute face lays an over determined, eccentric, and very bold woman, and when I set my mind onto something, there’s no stopping me. I’ll cry, fall into alienation, roll myself on the ground, argue with the stars sky and clouds, stomp my feet on the ground, swearing loudly and clearly, make dramatic scenes, pull flowers to eat them with rage, but I won’t let go.

That’s how through finishing my first book Darcocyte I’ve learned most of the things I now know about creative writing and editing, and I am still learning, and I am sure that I will still continue learning. I really do think that you should start writing a novel if ever you want to acquire the necessary writing style and skills.

“Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”

J.k. Rowling (Harry potter)

Enough nerve to remain patient, sprinkled with loads of self-determination and optimism can beat the odds. I can’t say for now (as I am writing this post) if I’ll finally become an official writer; but I’ll continue to push forward, I just got to thrive on these nerves until I see the end of it.

“Not all those who wander are lost.”

J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the ring)

I knew nothing about blogging, writing fiction or poems, I wandered in a realm where I didn’t seem to be where I ought to be; but as I wandered on that pathway filled of strange creatures and trees of unknown colours, on gravels that grew into things unknown, of misty seas, and everything conceivable through the imagination, I knew that it was there that I belonged, in this world filled of ideas and feelings that need and want to shoot into reality.

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”

Terry Pratchett (Night watch)

These first drafts of mine were so horrible that at some stage of drafting I completely lost faith in what I was doing. I did not understand why what I was writing didn’t look like all of these great books I read. And it’s only afterwards that I came to understand that what I first wrote were only some kind of a rough summary of my stories, poems or personal essays, and that it was only through the endless rewrites that what I wrote really take shape. In fact, the first process of writing is actually writing.

“Write a little bit everyday, without hope, without despair.”

Karen Blixen (Seven gothic tales, Out of Africa)

A little bit of writing everyday can lead to a book. A little bit of writing everyday can lead to a blog filled with contents that you are proud of. Write for yourself first, write for the sake of freeing these ideas from that dark dungeon, just write, and the rest shall follow.

“By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.”

Roald Dahl (Charlie & the chocolate factory, Mathilda)

If a great author like Roald Dahl said so, now imagine what a first time wanna be author like me might be going through during the phases of rereading and rewriting. However, passion is everything, and my love for writing my books and blogging are stronger than all of my impatience. There’s always something new and more exciting that adds to the puzzle of your story when you go back to edit your own work… it’s like a dish that needs to simmer on low heat.