Margaret Atwood Quotes On Writing (Inspiration For Young Writers)

Margaret Atwood is one of the most well-known Canadian authors of our time. She began writing plays and poems at only 6 years old, even though she did not attend school full-time until she was 12.

Recently, Atwood has become a household name with the release of the Handmaid’s Tale TV show. Her writing is prolific, and she has some incredible wisdom to share with beginner writers and authors.

Here’s my pick of the top 10 quotes from Margaret Atwood:

Margaret Atwood Quotes For Young Writers

You become a writer by writing. There is no other way. So do it. Do it more. Do it again. Do it better. Fail. Fail better. I think it’s a good idea, especially when you’re younger, you keep your hand in by writing something everyday. So I recommend it, but it’s another one of those recommendations that I myself have been unable to follow.
Margaret Atwood

I don’t think the writing life is like deciding you’re going to be a lawyer or a dentist, it’s not that kind of decision. I think it’s something that you already—you’re already on that path before you know it—and you discover it, but I think that if you have to stand back and say, “should I be a writer or should I not be a writer?” If you’re doing that, then the answer is probably, “I should not be.”
Margaret Atwood

If you really do want to write, and you’re struggling to get started, you’re afraid of something. What is that fear?
Margaret Atwood

A word after a word after a word is power.
Margaret Atwood

What you read is as important as what you write.
Margaret Atwood

Writing is work. It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but essentially you’re on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don’t whine.
Margaret Atwood

Tell, rather than write, because I have nothing to write with and writing is in any case forbidden. But if it’s a story, even in my head, I must be telling it to someone. You don’t tell a story only to yourself. There’s always someone else. Even when there is no one.
Margaret Atwood

The artist doesn’t necessarily communicate. The artist evokes. [It] actually doesn’t matter what I feel. What matters is how the art makes you feel.
Margaret Atwood

There’s no shame in backtracking. There’s no shame in revision. There’s no shame in realizing that you got it wrong, or that there’s a better thing you can do that’s better than what you have done.
Margaret Atwood