#writ

The hard core of morality and even of religion seems to me to be just what makes good comedy possible...Where there is no norm, nothing can be ridiculous, except for a brief moment of unbalanced provincialism in which we may laugh at the merely unfamiliar. Unless there is something about which the author is never ironical, there can be no true irony in the work. ↗

— C.S. Lewis

#humor #irony #morality #principles #writing

When many story-tellers occupy themselves with a social world which offers no great variety of lively action, their stories will probably resemble one another as to many of the major incidents, and if they draw on these limited resources like spend thrifts such resemblances will be inevitable--and therefore not significant. ↗

— Mary Lascelles

#social-world #storytelling #writers #art

As writers we intend to make a difference, to alter people's lives for the greater good. . .this is why we write, to have an impact on society, to put a personal stamp on history. . .Art and literature are the legacies we leave to succeeding generations. We'll be forgotten, but our books and essays, our stories and poems can survive us. . . ↗

— Lee Gutkind

#writers-on-writing #writing #writing-life #art

Why write wrong if the writing won’t right the wrong? (90) ↗

— Sandra M. Gilbert

#grieving #writing #death

You always get more respect when you don't have a happy ending. ↗

— Julia Quinn

#writing #respect

Gaze into the fire, into the clouds, and as soon as the inner voices begin to speak..surrender to them. Don't ask first whether it's permitted, or would please your teachers or father or some god. You will ruin yourself if you do that. ↗

— Hermann Hesse

#writing #teacher

It is the fate of most men who mingle with the world, and attain even the prime of life, to make many real friends, and lose them in the course of nature. It is the fate of all authors or chroniclers to create imaginary friends, and lose them in the course of art. Nor is this the full extent of their misfortunes; for they are required to furnish an account of them besides. ↗

— Charles Dickens

#writing #art

The vocation of each writer is to describe the world as he or she sees it; anything more than that is advertising. ↗

— Hanif Kureishi

#advertising

I've got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen. ↗

— Louisa May Alcott

#challenges #keys #writing #women

Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window. ↗

— William Faulkner

#writing #work