“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.”
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About this quote
Learning to write comes down to study plus practice. Read widely, including the bad stuff, so you can see concrete choices and steal the ones that work. Then write and treat those pages like experiments: keep what holds up and discard what doesn't. Try this as a routine and you'll learn faster than waiting for a flash of inspiration.
When to use it
- At the ad agency briefing I told the junior writers, "Read junky ads and classic campaigns, then write your own lines to see what actually sells."
- Before my thesis I binged bad fan fiction and great novels back to back, then rewrote my opening scene copying rhythms I liked.
- When my teen said they hated reading I handed them a trashy mystery and a classic and said, "Read both, notice tricks, then write a page of your own."
- As a basketball coach I study pro playbooks and online forum drills, test them in practice, and toss the ones that don't work on the court.