#craft

Let us not neglect the forbidden. Let us not sophisticate ourselves out of the cheap thrill and chill of it: the story told for perversity's sake, and all the better for that; the image created because an artist gets tired of reasons sometimes, and wants to dredge up some picture he's been haunted by, and parade it like a new tattoo. I go with it, readily. ↗

— Clive Barker

#writing-advice #writing-craft #writing-craft

It can be said that one slip of point of view by a writer can hurt a story badly, and several slips can be fatal.' Stein on Writing ↗

— Sol Stein

#writing-craft

Writing is work. It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but ­essentially you’re on your own. ­Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don’t whine. ↗

— Margaret Atwood

#writing-craft #writing-tips #writing-craft

A successful story always offers its audience more than a simple resolution of events. A story offers a dramatic affirmation of human needs that are acted out to resolution and fulfillment. Even when that resolution and fulfillment are dark, the journey can still be vivid, potent and illuminating. ↗

— Bill Johnson

#writing-craft

There will be pages. Lots and lots of pages. Most of the pages will have letters on them, and a vast majority of these letters will be in the Roman alphabet. ↗

— Aaron Allston

#writing-craft #writing-craft

Ending a novel is almost like putting a child to sleep – it can't be done abruptly." [Colm Tóibín, Novelist – Portrait of the Artist, The Guardian, 19 February 2013] ↗

— Colm Tóibín

#craft #novels #writing #writing-craft

Writing fiction, especially a long work of fiction can be difficult, lonely job; it’s like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub. There’s plenty of opportunity for self-doubt. ↗

— Stephen King

#self-doubt #stephen-king #writing #writing-craft

The solution, once revealed, must seem to have been inevitable. At least half of all the mystery novels published violate this law." (Casual Notes on the Mystery Novel, 1949) ↗

— Raymond Chandler

#mysteries #solution #technique #writing #writing-craft

[As a screenwriter] I have a sense of exile from thought, a nostalgia of the quiet room and balanced mind. I am a writer, and there comes a time when that which I write has to belong to me, has to be written alone and in silence, with no one looking over my shoulder, no one telling me a better way to write it. It doesn't have to be great writing, it doesn't even have to be terribly good. It just has to be mine." (A Qualified Farewell) ↗

— Raymond Chandler

#ownership #solitude #writing #writing-craft

You are not an "author," you are a writer. If your books are still selling like hotcakes ten years after your demise, THEN you're an author. ↗

— H.P. Oliver

#writing-craft