"The Writer" is a song by English singer and songwriter Ellie Goulding from her debut album, Lights (2010).

"[1] The Observer's Polly Vernon named "The Writer" the "love song of the summer" and called it "raw, eloquent, generally gorgeous", while describing Goulding's voice as "ghostly sweet, saved from sickliness by guttural Björk-ish quirks.

"[2] OddOne of Unreality Shout felt that "[n]ot once has she sounded more warming than in this beautifully written love song of devotion to a lover", but noted that "being her first ballad, she does fall at some hurdles, like the middle 8: whilst Ellie's breathy vocals may appear to bridge the emotion between the two final choruses, it actually does feel a bit like she's gone back to her colder self, not making the emotion clearly defined despite the very comforting lyrics.

"[3] Ryan Love of Digital Spy gave the track three out of five stars and wrote that "Starsmith's typically twinkly production allows those vocals to shine through as she urges a potential boyfriend to help her become just the right kinda gal for him—and the overall effect is as sweet and pretty as a pink frosted cupcake.

"[5] Pitchfork Media's Stephen Troussé, however, referred negatively to it as "a big bluster of a song, with a chorus where the spectre of the Cranberries' Dolores O'Riordan is all too vivid, whose future success could be Goulding's undoing.