How I write by PAULO COELHO

On Simplicity: “What counts in a good story is the person inside. Keep it simple.”

On Trust: “Trust your reader. Don’t try to describe things. Give a hint and they will fulfill this hint with their own imagination.”  

On Writing: “I write the book that wants to be written. Behind the first sentence is a thread that takes you to the last.”  

On Expertise: “You cannot take something out of nothing. When you write a book, you use your experience.”  

On Critics: “Writers want to please their peers. They want to be recognized. Forget about this. Who cares? You should care to share your soul and not to please other writers who will write a review that nobody is going to read.”  

On Notetaking: “I use notes to take them out of my head. I will never use them the next day – they will be useless.”  

On Style: “Don’t try to innovate storytelling. Tell a good story and it is magical. I see people trying to work so much in style, finding different ways to tell the same thing. It is like fashion. Style is the dress, but the dress does not dictate what is inside the dress. What counts is the person.”  

On Notetaking II : “If you want to capture ideas, you are lost. You are going to be detached from emotions and forget to live your life. You will be an observer and not a human being living his or her life. Forget notetaking. What is important remains, what is not important goes away.”

 -Paulo Coelho