Judy Blume needs no introduction. The author of your all-time favorite childhood novels (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Deenie, etc.) has been improving kids’ lives for over fifty years, folks. So in honor of her long, prolific, and undeniably influential career, I’ve collected some of her best writing advice—equally applicable to those who want to write books for young people or adults—below.
“Read your work aloud! This is the best advice I can give. When you read aloud you find out how much can be cut, how much is unnecessary. You hear how the story flows. And nothing teaches you as much about writing dialogue as listening to it.”
–from Judy’s website
“I don’t believe in writer’s block. For me there’s no such thing as writer’s block—don’t even say writer’s block.”
–from a BuzzFeed reader Q&A
“Observe. Make notes. Listen carefully. Listen to how people talk to one another. A good writer is always a people watcher.”
–from an interview with Scholastic
“When you’re writing, you’ve got to knock the critic off this shoulder, knock the censor off this shoulder, and all those voices in your head—telling you that you suck, and nobody’s going to read what you’re writing, nobody’s going to buy it or publish it—you have to leave them outside the workspace, and get rid of them.”
–from a BuzzFeed reader Q&A
“I once met a woman who wanted to write. She told me she’d read 72 books about writing but she still couldn’t do it. I suggested that instead of reading books about writing, she read the best books she could find, the books that would inspire her to write as well as she could.”
–from Judy’s website
“Start on the day something different happens.”
–from a Reddit AMA
“There are no hard and fast rules for writing, and no secret tricks, because what works for one person doesn’t always work for another. Everybody is different. That’s the key to the whole business of writing—your individuality.”
–from Judy’s website
[On how to stay positive:] “Well it’s best not to think about anything else; that’s the only thing I can say. Just don’t think about anything else. When you’re in there [working], when you’re at the computer, when you’ve got the pencil in your hand—and, by the way, I get my best ideas from a pencil. I’m a good rewriter; I like to revise much more than I like getting down that first draft—you just have to keep those bad, hopeless thoughts away.”
–from a BuzzFeed reader Q&A
“The best books come from someplace deep inside. You don’t write because you want to, but because you have to. Become emotionally involved. If you don’t care about your characters, your readers won’t either.
Those of us who write do it because there are stories inside us burning to get out. Writing is essential to our well-being. If you’re that kind of writer, never give up! If you start a story and it isn’t going well, put it aside. (We’re not talking about school assignments here.) You can start as many as you like because you’re writing for yourself. With each story you’ll learn more. One day it will all come together for you.”
–from Judy’s website
“It’s best not to dwell on what you’ve written, wishing it could be different. We all write what we can. We do the very best we can. You might think, oh, I wish I could write like so-and-so, but you have to write like yourself.”
–from an interview with Scholastic
“Yes, rejection and criticism hurt. Get used to it. Even when you’re published you’ll have to contend with less than glowing reviews. There is no writer who hasn’t suffered.”
–from Judy’s website
“Everybody who writes fiction draws from their own life, but if it ended there, it would be very boring.”
–from an inteview with The Guardian
“I’ve no idea how writing works. My son says I’m the least analytical person he’s ever met. I think I’m just an instinctual writer. It comes and I go with it. It’s from some other part of the brain. I’m just glad it’s still coming . . .”
–from a Reddit AMA
“There is no right way or wrong way. There are a hundred different ways to tell the same story. Whatever works for you is okay.”
–from Judy’s website
“Keep writing! Don’t let anyone ever discourage you. Just keep on going, because you can’t help yourself. You have to write! No one chooses to become a writer. You write because you can’t not write.”
–from an interview with Scholastic
Emily Temple is the managing editor at Lit Hub. Her first novel, The Lightness, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in June 2020.