Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.
– Louis L’Amour
Category: Quotable
Quotable 105
The only good writing is intuitive writing. It would be a big bore if you knew where it was going. It has to be exciting, instantaneous and it has to be a surprise. Then it all comes blurting out and it’s beautiful. I’ve had a sign by my typewriter for 25 years now which reads, “DON’T THINK!”
– Ray Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012)
Quotable 104
Technique will hold a reader from sentence to sentence, but only content will stay in his mind.
– Joyce Carol Oates
Quotable 103
The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.
– John Le Carré
Quotable 102
Writing is an act of paying attention, and if you don’t care about the difference between “their” and “there” or “needle” and “noodle,” then I am sorry for you.
– Garrison Keillor
Quotable 101
Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader – not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.
– E. L. Doctorow
Quotable 99
Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing.
– Melinda Haynes
Quotable 98
If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.
– Dorothy Parker
Quotable 97
Mere literary talent is common; what is rare is endurance, the continuing desire to work hard at writing.
– Donald Hall
Quotable 96
A young writer is easily tempted by the allusive and ethereal and ironic and reflective, but the declarative is at the bottom of most good writing.
– Garrison Keillor