#writing

I held out my book. It was precious to me, as were all the things I'd written; even where I despised their inadequacy there was not one I would disown. Each tore its way from my entrails. Each had shortened my life, killed me with its own special little death. ↗

— Tanith Lee

#writing #death

Pen-bereavement is a serious matter. ↗

— Anne Fadiman

#pen #pens #writers #writing #humor

writing fiction is the best thing there is because absolutely everything is possible! ↗

— Mario Vargas Llosa

#inspirational #writing #inspirational

The best thing about writing programs is that it rationalized the apprenticeship of a writer. ↗

— Russell Banks

#apprenticeship #best #programs #rationalized #thing

God, what a ghastly enterprise to be in, though--and what an odd way to achieve success. I'm an exhibitionist who wants to hide, but is unsuccessful at hiding; therefore, somehow I succeed. ↗

— David Foster Wallace

#artist #exhibition #irony #persona #success

If you are destined to become a writer, you can't help it. If you can help it, you aren't destined to become a writer. The frustrations and disappointments, not even to mention the unspeakable loneliness, are too unbearable for anyone who doesn't have a deep sense of being unable to avoid writing. ↗

— Donald Harington

#writing-life #life

A writer has no use for the clock. A writer lives in an infinity of days, time without end, ploughed under. ↗

— Jeanette Winterson

#art

People should know better than to be an ass in front of writers. We immortalize things. Lots of things. And we take liberties with character descriptions. ↗

— Michelle M. Pillow

#character #fantasy #fiction #michelle-pillow #romance-novel

Writing is the act of discovery. ↗

— Natalie Goldberg

#writing-advice #writing-life #life

When describing nature, a writer should seize upon small details, arranging them so that the reader will see an image in his mind after he closes his eyes. For instance: you will capture the truth of a moonlit night if you'll write that a gleam like starlight shone from the pieces of a broken bottle, and then the dark, plump shadow of a dog or wolf appeared. You will bring life to nature only if you don't shrink from similes that liken its activities to those of humankind." (Letter to Alexander Chekhov, May 10, 1886) ↗

— Anton Chekhov

#detail #nature #show-don-t-tell #writing #life