“The writer is by nature a dreamer – a conscious dreamer.” ~ Carson McCullers
“In most good stories, it is the character’s personality that creates the action of the story. If you start with real personality, a real character, then something is bound to happen.”
~ Flannery O’Connor
“A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell them to read the story. The meaning of fiction is not abstract meaning but experienced meaning.” ~ Flannery O’Connor
“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.” ~ Dylan Thomas
“You have to throw yourself away when you write.” ~ Maxwell Perkins
“You’ve got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not the little minor things that only touch you lightly, the little experiences that you might tell at dinner. This is especially true when you begin to write, when you have not yet developed the tricks of interesting people on paper, when you have none of the technique which it takes time to learn. When, in short, you have only your emotions to sell.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
“I’ve often said that there’s no such thing as writer’s block; the problem is idea block. When I find myself frozen-whether I’m working on a brief passage in a novel or brainstorming about an entire book-it’s usually because I’m trying to shoehorn an idea into the passage or story where it has no place.”
“Just go outside and look at something and write it down and you’ll find it is a very nice piece of writing.”
“And I love the twist. I love to fool you once, I love to fool you twice, and on the very last page, quite often – very last paragraph sometimes – I like to just play with your perception one more time in a way that makes everything that came before just a little bit different.” ~ Harlan Coben
“At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.”
~ Elmore Leonard
