Parenting Tip Tuesday: Quotes to Encourage Young Writers

Writing is wonderful. That’s my opinion, but not one that’s shared by a lot of youngsters.

How can you convince kids that it’s cool to write? Here are a few notes and quotes from famous (and not-so-famous) authors that just might fire them up.

“Being an author is legalized daydreaming. I like to write because I still get to have all those daydreams about being a rock star or basketball player or Spider-Man. I act out stories in my head. I read comic books and silly books and get to call it research.”—Burton W. Cole

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”—Toni Morrison

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”—Phillip Pullman

“The best books come from someplace deep inside. You don’t write because you want to, but because you have to. Become emotionally involved. If you don’t care about your characters, your readers won’t either.”—Judy Blume

“You can make anything by writing.”—C.S. Lewis

“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”—Anne Frank

“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of. ”—Joss Whedon 

“The most difficult thing about writing; is writing the first line.”—Amit Kalantri

“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.”—Beatrix Potter

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”—Anne Lamott

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

“How do you get ideas about what to write? Two words: ‘What if?’ Ask yourself ‘what if’ all the time. What would happen if they did this? What would happen if they wanted to build that? Don’t settle for the first thing that comes to your mind. That’s probably the one everyone thinks about. So two more words: ‘What else?’ What else might happen?”—Burton W. Cole

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”—Jack London

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”—Stephen King

“I often meet frustrated young writers who say they’ve only got so far and just can’t finish a book. Even if you don’t happen to use what you’ve worked on that day, it has taught you something and you’ll be amazed when you might come back to it and use it again.”—Eoin Colfer

“Young writers only take off when they find their subjects. Since almost everyone has a family and stories about family, that is often a place to start.”—Robert Morgan

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

“People say, ‘What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?’ I say, they don’t really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.”—R.L. Stine

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”—William Wadsworth

“All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.”—E.B. White

“Keep asking, ‘What if?’ Keep dreaming. Keep writing. Because you can!”—Burton W. Cole