All Quotes By Tag: Writing

“It’s impossible to say a thing exactly the way it was, because of what you say can never be exact, you always have to leave something out, there are too many parts, sides, crosscurrents, nuances; too many gestures, which could mean this or that, too many shapes which can never be fully described, too many flavors, in the air or on the tongue, half-colors, too many.”

“If a writer stops observing he is finished. Experience is communicated by small details intimately observed.”

“Words bounce. Words, if you let them, will do what they want to do and what they have to do.”

“I write to find out what I’m talking about.”

“Remember to get the weather in your damn book–weather is very important.”

“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”

“As a child, I read because books–violent and not, blasphemous and not, terrifying and not–were the most loving and trustworthy things in my life. I read widely, and loved plenty of the classics so, yes, I recognized the domestic terrors faced by Louisa May Alcott’s March sisters. But I became the kid chased by werewolves, vampires, and evil clowns in Stephen King’s books. I read books about monsters and monstrous things, often written with monstrous language, because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life.And now I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don’t write to protect them. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons–in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.”

“A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.”

“I am simply of the opinion that you cannot be taught to write. You have to spend a lifetime in love with words.”

“You either have to write or you shouldn’t be writing. That’s all.”

“Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.”

“Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.”

“Every word a woman writes changes the story of the world, revises the official version.”

“You’re miserable, edgy and tired. You’re in the perfect mood for journalism.”

“I want to see thirstIn the syllables,Tough fireIn the sound;Feel through the darkFor the scream.”