What separates great writers from good writers? They learn from past and present writers to hone their craft, and the advice of famous authors inspires them.

To become the best, you must learn from the best.

Words from successful authors can give valuable advice and insights into the creative writing process.

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Famous authors’ advice is powerful

Following some of these 10 writing time-tested tips below from famous authors, you’ll become a stronger writer.

1. William Faulkner

William Faulkner was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. He wrote novels, short stories, screenplays, poetry, and essays.

William Faulkner famously said:

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”

The only way to grow as a writer is to embrace the uncomfortable. You have to be courageous enough to move beyond your comfort zone.

You must work hard to reach your goals beyond the status quo. Push yourself to become a better writer.

Writing tip: Try something new today that challenges you.

2. Stephen King

Stephen King is an American, award-winning author who has sold millions of books.

Many of his horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, and science fiction books have been adapted into films and TV shows.

Stephen King famously said:

“I am always chilled and astonished by the would-be writers who ask me for advice and admit, quite blithely, that they ‘don’t have time to read.’ This is like a guy starting up Mount Everest saying that he didn’t have time to buy any rope or pitons.”

Just as William Faulkner did, it’s essential to make time to read. Reading will help you write.

Writing tip: Keep it simple. Read a lot.

3. Jack Hart

Jack Hart is an American author and writing coach. He is a former managing editor at The Oregonian.

Jack Hart famously said:

“Any word that doesn’t advance a story slows it down. Which is reason enough to avoid expletives. Contrary to popular misconception, the term ‘expletive’ refers to a whole class of empty words, not just gratuitous profanities. Most expletives simply fill out the syntax of sentences. The most common is ‘there are,’ ‘there is,’ ‘there was,’ ‘it is,’ ‘it was,’ and so on.”

So many words can make your sentences more complex than they need to be. Keep your copy succinct.

Hunt for words to cut.

Do they help move the story forward?

Avoid empty or unnecessary words like really, very, absolutely, currently, actually, and literally.

Writing tip: Don’t clog your sentences. Trim the fat.

4. George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English writer. He is famous for his novels 1984 and Animal Farm.

George Orwell famously said:

“Good writing is like a windowpane.”

A windowpane is a piece of transparent glass in a building’s window. 

Therefore, good writing is transparent. 

In other words, write only words that you want your readers to see. Have your words jump off the page.

Place them into your reader’s mind so they can interrupt or visualize the story.

Writing tip: Good writing helps your readers visualize your story clearly.

5. Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith is an English novelist and short-story writer. She is a best-selling and award-winning author. She became a tenured professor of fiction at New York University in 2010.

Zadie Smith famously said:

“The past is always tense, the future perfect.”

Zadie starts each day by reading and revising her writing. She loves working in a small room with natural light.

She likes to read a lot, especially writers with styles different from her own. This helps her fill in gaps in her writing.

Writing tip: Read what you have written the day before.

6. John Steinbeck

John is a Pulitzer Prize winner known for his novels The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. These books defined the American Great Depression.

John Steinbeck famously said:

“To be alive at all is to have scars.”

You may have a scar. However, it also means you have a story.

Stories come from mistakes and difficult times.

Sometimes, those scars tell tales of life-threatening catastrophes, but other times, they are detours on life’s road.

Embrace your scars and share those stories with your readers.

Writing tip: Our scars tell our stories.

7. Jodi Picoult

Jodi is an American writer and New York Times bestselling author. She has sold millions of copies of her novels.

Jodi Picoult famously said:

“If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”

It’s important to write even if it doesn’t flow, make sense, or seem clear. Don’t get discouraged by a blank canvas.

Just start writing.

It’s tough to edit a blank screen with no text.

Type what you are thinking. You can always go back and edit it.

You have to start somewhere.

Writing tip: Just do it. Start writing.

8. Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was an American journalist, novelist, and short-story writer. He was a Nobel Prize winner and one of the greatest novelists ever. Ernest is known for A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea.

Ernest Hemingway famously said:

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

Every writer should aim to reach a flow state or get into a zone.

It’s essential to sit down at your computer and write—write, write, write.

Let your thoughts flow, and worry about editing later.

Writing tip: Find your flow state. Let your thoughts flow. Edit later.

9. Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer. He is recognized as one of the greatest writers of the modern short story.

Anton Chekhov famously said:

“Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare but look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.”

Be thankful for the bad times and be optimistic about them.

The good times are right around the corner. Difficulties show us what’s important in life.

Writing tip: Tough times can change our perspective. You may get into a writer’s funk. That’s OK. You can get out of a writer’s funk if you think positively.

10. Maya Angelo

Maya Angelou was an American poet and memoirist who published autobiographies, essays, and poetry. She is best known for her memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Maya Angelo famously said:

“You have to get to a very quiet place inside yourself. And that doesn’t mean that you can’t have noise outside. I know some people who put Jazz on, loudly, to write. I think each writer has her or his secret path to the muse.”

Maya has said that she has a hotel room in her town. She goes there to work, and she doesn’t let anybody into that room.

Maya didn’t sleep there. She just wrote there.

Maya believed that each writer must find their place to write.

She said she knew a writer who stood on a podium for six hours, typing. Maya also knew another person who had written on a computer in a closet.

This writer sits with their back to the door, facing the wall.

Writing tip: Find your inner quiet place where you can write. It doesn’t have to be quiet externally, but it needs to be internally.

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Bringing it all together

You can learn from great writers by studying how they work on their craft and following famous authors’ advice.

You can learn much about writing from other writers — they don’t have to be famous.

Hopefully, these writing tips from successful authors will inspire you to become a great writer and perhaps write a book. Famous authors’ advice can be powerful.

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