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
Category Archives: Quotable
Quotable 101
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
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Tagged Dorothy Parker, Elements of Style, favor, happiness, Quotable
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
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Tagged allusive, declarative, etherial, Garrison Keillor, ironic, Quotable, reflective
Quotable 95
Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures.
– Jessamyn West
Quotable 94
I’ll give you the sole secret of short-story writing, and here it is: Rule 1. Write stories that please yourself. There is no rule 2. … If you can’t write a story that pleases yourself, you will never please the public.
– O. Henry
Quotable 93
I think I can honestly say that I wrote these yarns for fun. It happens that I like to fool around with ideas like some people do with drill-presses or vegetable gardens or blondes. It’s a hobby.
– Will F. Jenkins
Quotable 92
The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.
– Edwin Schlossberg
Quotable 91
There are so many different kinds of writing and so many ways to work that the only rule is this: do what works. Almost everything has been tried and found to succeed for somebody. The methods, even the ideas, of successful writers contradict each other in a most heartening way, and the only element I find common to all successful writers is persistence – an overwhelming determination to succeed.
– Sophy Burnham
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Tagged determination, methods, Quotable, Sophy Burnham, success
