How many great gems were lost to thoughtand not put down to pen.You can but think of just a fewand then they're lost again.
Treat backstory like a pungent spice. I say this to encourage you to picture a jalapeno pepper that can set your mouth on fire, every time you even think about adding backstory into your book. What yo...
Don't give in to doubt. Never be discouraged if your first draft isn't what you thought it would be. Given skill and a story that compels you, muster your determination and make what's on the page clo...
Comparisons deplete the actuality of the things compared... (Conveyance: The Story I would Not Want Bill Wilson To Read)
We slip into a dream, forgetting the room we're sitting in, forgetting it's lunchtime or time to go to work. We recreate, with minor and for the most part unimportant changes, the vivid and continuous...
Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay
While I'm writing, I'm far away;and when I come back, I've gone.
A really well-done first draft of a book bares your soul. The purpose of revision is so that everyone who reads the published version believes you were writing about theirs.
A writer creates from his mind; his creations emanate from the feelings enmeshed deep within his heart. From the fire burning within his soul, he gives shape to his thoughts. His thoughts start to bre...
As a naturally shy person, I loved the anonymity of writing before my career took off. I loved how my stories didn't care about my weight. When I started publishing that writing, I loved that, to my r...
There are many rules of good writing, but the best way to find them is to be a good reader.
On the whole, I think you should write biographies of those you admire and respect, and novels about human beings who you think are sadly mistaken.
It's the writing that teaches you.
There are a lot of ways for a novelist to create suspense, but also really only two: one a trick, one an art.
I can fix a bad page. I can't fix a blank page.
Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.
Allen Ginsberg instructs: First thought, best thought. Oh, to have my every spontaneous thought count as poetry! No draft after draft like a draft horse.Clayton Eshleman, laughing, said, 'First though...
Writing is a team sport.
Writer's block? I've never heard of a plumber complain about plumber's block.
In quickness is truth. The more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon truth which is the only style worth...