Friday, June 13, 2008
Quick & Deep (and Life-Changing) Writing Advice
Posted by Jane

I keep several Moleskine journals, and one is devoted specifically to the philosophy of great writers (or great writing). Today, a glimpse into the most recent entries:

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings—words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out.
—Stephen King


In every work of genius, we recognized our own rejected thoughts: They come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.

—Emerson


To poets, silence is an acceptable response, even a flattering one.

—Colette


Before the play [by Harold Pinter], I thought words were just vessels of meaning. After it I saw them as weapons of defense. Before, I thought theatre was about the spoken; after, I understood the eloquence of the unspoken. It offered no explanations, no theories, no truths, no through line, no certainties of any kind.

—John Lahr


Something has to be alive inside the story, giving it a pulse … What is it that's going to be whispering in your ear? Mostly it'll be what was there to start with—the unending swirl of memories, start-ups, hang-ups, and preoccupations. Write what you know goes the cliche. I'm not so sure you have a choice.

—Danny Leigh


If there is a single pressure that has brought me to writing, it is regret. That is like rocket fuel for this kind of art.

—DBC Pierre


Craft & Technique | General
6/13/2008 2:59:38 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] Trackback
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