- Thread starter
- #1,341
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
Good things, when short, are twice as good.
Good things, when short, are twice as good.
- Thread starter
- #1,342
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
All human beings have an innate need to hear and tell stories and to have a story to live by ... religion, whatever else it has done, has provided one of the main ways of meeting this abiding need.
All human beings have an innate need to hear and tell stories and to have a story to live by ... religion, whatever else it has done, has provided one of the main ways of meeting this abiding need.
- Thread starter
- #1,343
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.
- Thread starter
- #1,344
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
- Thread starter
- #1,345
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
With 60 staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and a definite hardening of the paragraphs.
With 60 staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and a definite hardening of the paragraphs.
- Thread starter
- #1,346
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking
Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking
- Thread starter
- #1,347
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
Women do not always have to write about women, or gay men about gay men. Indeed, something good and new might happen if they did not.
Lavina Goodell:
Women do not always have to write about women, or gay men about gay men. Indeed, something good and new might happen if they did not.
Lavina Goodell:
- Thread starter
- #1,348
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
Critics are by no means the end of the law. Do not think all is over with you because you articles are rejected. It may be that the editor has his drawer full, or that he does not know enough to appreciate you, or you have not gained a reputation, or he is not in a mood to be pleased. A critic's judgment is like that of any intelligent person. If he has experience, he is capable of judging whether a book will sell. That is all. junior editor, Harper's Bazaar, 1866
Critics are by no means the end of the law. Do not think all is over with you because you articles are rejected. It may be that the editor has his drawer full, or that he does not know enough to appreciate you, or you have not gained a reputation, or he is not in a mood to be pleased. A critic's judgment is like that of any intelligent person. If he has experience, he is capable of judging whether a book will sell. That is all. junior editor, Harper's Bazaar, 1866
- Thread starter
- #1,349
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
- Thread starter
- #1,350
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
Yes there is a meaning; at least for me, there is one thing that matters - to set a chime of words tinkling in the minds of a few fastidious people.
Yes there is a meaning; at least for me, there is one thing that matters - to set a chime of words tinkling in the minds of a few fastidious people.
- Thread starter
- #1,351
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
Lord Byron:
But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew, upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
Lord Byron:
But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew, upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
- Thread starter
- #1,352
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
What's better, a poetic intuition or an intellectual work? I think they complement each other.
What's better, a poetic intuition or an intellectual work? I think they complement each other.
- Thread starter
- #1,353
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
I allow my intuition to lead
I allow my intuition to lead
- Thread starter
- #1,354
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
There are some books that refuse to be written. They stand their ground year after year and will not be persuaded. It isn't because the book is not there and worth being written -- it is only because the right form of the story does not present itself. There is only one right form for a story and if you fail to find that form the story will not tell itself.
There are some books that refuse to be written. They stand their ground year after year and will not be persuaded. It isn't because the book is not there and worth being written -- it is only because the right form of the story does not present itself. There is only one right form for a story and if you fail to find that form the story will not tell itself.
- Thread starter
- #1,355
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English - it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them - then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.
I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English - it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them - then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.
- Thread starter
- #1,356
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.
To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.
- Thread starter
- #1,357
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it.
Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it.
- Thread starter
- #1,358
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.
I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.
- Thread starter
- #1,359
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.
In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.
- Thread starter
- #1,360
S
stripe
Guest
Re: chat
The reality is more excellent than the report.
The reality is more excellent than the report.
Similar threads
