Nora Roberts Writing Quotations

I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.

I don't believe for one moment you can write well what you wouldn't read for pleasure.

Certainly the plagiarism, and dealing with the fallout of it, was the most difficult thing I've ever faced since I started writing.

Action, reaction, motivation, emotion, all have to come from the characters. Writing a love scene requires the same elements from the writer as any other.

You don't find time to write. You make time. It's my job.

I would hope that my writing's cleaner than it was when I started.

I believe strongly in writing groups such as Romance Writers Of America that offer support, information and networking.

I'd always loved to read - and come from a family of readers - but I never thought about writing as a career.

I decided to write category romance as I'd recently discovered them, and enjoyed them.

I do indeed write on the road. My laptop goes with me everywhere.

I generally write a first draft that's pretty lean. Just get the story down.

If you write in category, you write knowing there's a framework, there are reader expectations.

I need to write to be happy.

I can fix a bad page. I can't fix a blank page.

You can fix anything but a blank page.

The most important thing in writing is to have written. I can always fix a bad page. I can't fix a blank one.

The most important thing is you can't write what you wouldn't read for pleasure. It's a mistake to analyze the market thinking you can write whatever is hot. You can't say you're going to write romance when you don't even like it. You need to write what you would read if you expect anybody else to read it.

So, you’re hitting on Clare the Fair.” “I’m not hitting on her. I’m exploring the possibility of seeing her on social terms.” “He’s hitting on her,” Owen said around a mouthful of chips. “You’ve still got that thing you had for her back in high school. Are you still writing bad song lyrics about heartbreak?” “Suck me. And they weren’t that bad.” “Yeah, they were,” Ryder disagreed. “But at least now we don’t have to listen to you playing your keyboard and howling them down the hall.

I write every day. Even if I'm not writing well, I write through it. I can fix a bad page. I can't fix a blank one.

A writer never finds the time to write. A writer makes it. If you don't have the drive, the discipline, and the desire, then you can have all the talent in the world, and you aren't going to finish a book.

I never had a plan, except to write. I love what I do, and have from the beginning. Loving what you do makes it a lot easier to work, every day, to face the tough spots and heel in for the long haul. Nothing against plans; they work for some people. But for me, if I'd been planning, worrying about numbers, trying to micro-manage my career, I wouldn't have focused on the writing. If you don't write, you're not read. If you're not read, you don't sell. So that's my Master Plan, I guess. Write the books, let the agent agent, the editor edit, the publisher publish.

I loved the process of writing.

You can't write well what you don't read for pleasure. If it doesn't entertain you, it's not going to entertain anyone else.