plot

“The first person you should think of pleasing, in writing a book, is yourself. If you can amuse yourself for the length of time it takes to write a book, the publisher and the readers can and will come later.”

~ Patricia Highsmith

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“I begin by assembling notes on characters. Large swaths of the plot become clear to me as I do this.”

~ James Ellroy

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“Because music is a language unto itself, when I’m writing, I need silence. I need to hear the music and the rhythms of the words inside my thoughts.” ~ Marianne Wiggins

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“I think we often write because we feel a loneliness, and people read for the same reason, and then they come away feeling a little less lonely.” ~ Amy Tan

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“Being a fiction writer is really like being an actor, because if you’re going to write convincingly it has to sound right and play right. The only way that works is to emotionally and technically act out and see the scene you’re in.” ~ Ridley Pearson 

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“My characters have to talk, or they’re out. They audition in early scenes. If they can’t talk, they’re given less to do, or thrown out.” ~ Elmore Leonard

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“I focus on characters as individuals with attitudes and write each scene from a particular character’s point of view. That way, even narrative passages take on the character’s sound. I don’t want the reader to be aware of me, writing.” ~ Elmore Leonard

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“There’s the story, then there’s the real story, then there’s the story of how the story came to be told. Then there’s what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too.”

~ Margaret Atwood

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“Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action.”

~ Kurt Vonnegut

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“A character is defined by the kinds of challenges he cannot walk away from. And by those he has walked away from that cause him remorse.” ~ Arthur Miller

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