All Quotes By Tag: Writing

“When you travel with your family, you may not get the volume of work done you would if you were alone, but you can still do something while recharging. If nothing else, you can gather your own thoughts, write down ideas, observe people around you, and reflect on experiences. Working doesn’t always mean putting words on paper.”

“Rituals help us change modes.”

“You have to remember that I was a bright but simple fellow from Canada who seldom, if ever, met another writer, and then only a so-called literary type that occasionally sold a story and meanwhile worked in an office for a living.”

“A sense of mission lostin ink’sjagged outcrops.I was trying to tell myselfwhat I must have knownbeforein a formI wouldn’t recognize at first.”

“A novel takes the courage of a marathon runner, and as long as you have to run, you might as well be a winning marathon runner. Serendipity and blind faith faith in yourself won’t hurt a thing. All the bastards in the world will snicker and sneer because they haven’t the talent to zip up their flies by themselves. To hell with them, particularly the critics. Stand in there, son, no matter how badly you are battered and hurt.”

“Of course, in fairness, I must remind you of this: that we writers are the most lily-livered of all craftsmen. We expect more, for the most peewee efforts, than any other people.”

“The material’s out there, a calm lake waiting for us to dive in.”

“Pages and pages and pages with words all over the pages. My goodness, what fun. What fun to write whatever words occur.”

“While I have the floor, here’s a question that’s been bothering me for some time. Why do so few writers of heroic or epic fantasy ever deal with the fundamental quandary of their novels . . . that so many of them take place in cultures that are rigid, hierarchical, stratified, and in essence oppressive? What is so appealing about feudalism, that so many free citizens of an educated commonwealth like ours love reading about and picturing life under hereditary lords?Why should the deposed prince or princess in every clichéd tale be chosen to lead the quest against the Dark Lord? Why not elect a new leader by merit, instead of clinging to the inbred scions of a failed royal line? Why not ask the pompous, patronizing, “good” wizard for something useful, such as flush toilets, movable type, or electricity for every home in the kingdom? Given half a chance, the sons and daughters of peasants would rather not grow up to be servants. It seems bizarre for modern folk to pine for a way of life our ancestors rightfully fought desperately to escape.”

“Writing is a manual labor of the mind: a job, like laying pipe.”

“I have long gone about with a conviction on my mind that I had a work to do—a Work, if you like, with a great W; a Purpose to fulfil; … a Great Social Evil to Discover and to Remedy.”

“I think some aspects of writing can be taught. Obviously, you can’t teach vision or talent. But you can help with comfort.”

“I had written all I was going to write, if the truth had been known, and there is nothing wrong with that. If more writers knew that, the world would be saved a lot of bad books, and more people–men and women alike–could go on to happier, more productive lives.”

“(D)ialogue is generally the worst choice for exposition. ‘When you’re writing lines…you need to focus on the way people actually talk. And when we talk to each other we never actually explain our terms. We don’t say ‘Sweetheart, would you pass me the sugar bowl, which we picked up for a song at that antique stall in Munich.”

“Best-selling horror fiction is indeed necessarily conservative because it must entertain a large number of readers. It’s like network television. I’m your local cable access station.”