In fact, one could argue that the skill of the fiction writer boils down to the ability to exploit intensity.
Good writers are good readers.
Ernest Hemingway had a rather personal way to describe first drafts. To paraphrase, he said all of them are like, ahem, biological waste.
God created the world in six days. On the seventh day, he rested. On the eighth day, he started getting complaints. And it hasn't stopped since.
Get a PHD No, not a doctoral degree. I mean a PHD attitude: Poor, Hungry and Driven.
Start by asking if this is writer’s laziness as opposed to writer’s block.
If you up your skill and take more chances, your odds of success increase.
At least ten writing sessions.
Grief was not a stream. It was an ocean.
A quirky, colorful character overstays her welcome after a few chapters, unless trouble comes calling.
A great novel is the record of how a character fights with death.
Sometimes writing a novel feels about as rewarding as turning a spit in the fires of hell.
Having a Care Package relationship keeps a character from being completely selfish.
Give yourself permission to be bad. Write first, polish later.
You keep writing because it's the only way to finish the book.
Someone with less talent who works hard often outperforms the gifted.
Dwight Swain, the great writing teacher, once said that the secret of excitement is to go deeper into your characters. Create more backstory, more secrets, more complexity, and you'll get excited agai...
Other men’s sins are before our eyes; our own are behind our back.
Drive thy business or it will drive thee. – Benjamin Franklin
When the last dime is gone, I'll sit on the curb with a pencil and a ten-cent notebook, and start the whole thing all over again. – Preston Sturges