Ed McBain Quotes

Changing writing styles is like an actor taking on a different part.

Ed McBain

• Writing
• Actor
• Changing
• Styles

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• All autobiography is storytelling; all writing is autobiography.

  

  J. M. Coetzee
  • Writing
  • Storytelling

• I read my books to writing workshops and friends, and I'm often focussed just on keeping them entertained. I never think about marketing at all.

  

  Karen Joy Fowler
  • Writing
  • Friends
  • Marketing

• Peter Sellers was just a brilliant actor, and also comedic.

  

  Val Kilmer
  • Actor
  • Just
  • Brilliant

• I like writing about biology, not doing it.

  

  Kary Mullis
  • Writing
  • Doing
  • Biology

• I've been writing fiction probably since I was about 6 years old, so it's something that is second nature to me now. I just sit down and start writing. I don't sit down and start writing and it comes out perfectly - it's a process.

  

  Candace Bushnell
  • Writing
  • Nature
  • Start

• I have yet to see a piece of writing, political or non-political, that doesn't have a slant. All writing slants the way a writer leans, and no man is born perpendicular, although many men are born upright.

  

  E. B. White
  • Men
  • Writing
  • Man

• Special-interest magazines are dangerous places for writers to start out in because the writing quickly falls into a routine and people are likely to find themselves artistically exhausted when they want to work on something of their own.

  

  Irwin Shaw
  • People
  • Work
  • Writing

• I'm no actor, and I've got 64 pictures to prove it.

  

  Victor Mature
  • Actor
  • Prove
  • Pictures

• Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.

  

  E. L. Doctorow
  • Good
  • Writing
  • Feeling

• Musical types tend to combine the burden of the author with the burden of the actor.

  

  Iggy Pop
  • Actor
  • Author
  • Musical

• Every actor wants more offers, but I get enough and I do like to be busy.

  

  Sam Neill
  • Enough
  • Actor
  • Busy

• The fault lines are shifting from the boundaries of nations into the web of our societies and the streets of our cities. And, terrorism and extremism are a global force that are larger than their changing names, groups, territories and targets.

  

  Narendra Modi
  • Changing
  • Terrorism
  • Fault

• I have been writing fairy tales for as long as I can remember. Not much has changed in terms of my natural attraction to the narrative techniques of fairy tales. My appreciation of them in the traditional stories has deepened, especially of flat and unadorned language, intuitive logic, abstraction, and everyday magic.

  

  Kate Bernheimer
  • Long
  • Writing
  • Remember

• I did not go to any creative writing workshop; I did not major in literature. If I can write, anyone can write. All it needs is imagination.

  

  Vikas Swarup
  • Writing
  • Imagination
  • Literature

• All art is propaganda, and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists. I stand in utter shamelessness and say that whatever art I have for writing has been used always for propaganda for gaining the right of black folk to love and enjoy. I do not care a damn for any art that is not used for propaganda.

  

  W. E. B. Du Bois
  • Writing
  • Love
  • Art

• I've done stuff to pay my dues and that's what actors are supposed to do, because I was a really bad actor when I was 18 or 20.

  

  Rachael Taylor
  • Done
  • Bad
  • Actor

• Outside of family, writing is essential. To me, it's like breathing.

  

  Patricia Reilly Giff
  • Writing
  • Family
  • Me

• I started writing short stories. I tried writing horror, mystery, science fiction. I joined a little critique group here in town and ran my stories past them. After about three years, I tackled my first novel, Subterranean. It took me 11 months to write.

  

  James Rollins
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Past

• My husband, a.k.a. Swede, and I both come from athletic backgrounds, so once we identified the goal - get book published - we attacked it. At any given time, I would have my writing out in 25 various forms - either contests, mentoring critiques, agent/publisher queries, etc.

  

  Kresley Cole
  • Time
  • Writing
  • Book

• My salary swings an unbelievable amount. When I had Holly, I took seven months off, so my salary was very low. It fluctuates wildly. No one pays you for the period you spend writing. I am certainly not rich.

  

  Deirdre O'Kane
  • Writing
  • Period

• I was a young, new, hot star, and I had this unbelievable arrogance. As time went on, the strident narcissism and arrogance slowly diminished. But I was definitely there. I'm older now. And a big crybaby.

  

  Chevy Chase
  • Time
  • Star

• It's okay to fail; it's not okay to quit.

  

  Chris Gardner
  • Failure
  • Failing
  • Quitting

• Changing writing styles is like an actor taking on a different part.

  

  Ed McBain
  • Writing
  • Actor
  • Changing