#writing

A short story is a writer's way of thinking through experience... Journalism aims at accuracy, but fiction's aim is truth. The writer distorts reality in the interest of a larger truth. ↗

— John L'Heureux

#journalism #truth #writing #experience

You could use a moth like that as a symbol in a novel, but it was trite, wasn’t it? The old moth-to-the-flame image had been used and used again. It was the stuff of amateur poetry. And she, having so little experience crafting a story, would be the most in danger of falling into trite approaches. If she wrote a novel, it probably would be about her father. And the male Luna moth would haunt its pages. Everyone would recognize the work as that of a first novelist. “She wrote about herself through the lens of her father.” The really good novelists, Laura thought, put their fathers, and maybe their mothers too, deeper into the stories. Which, she suddenly thought, might redeem Melville just the littlest bit. ↗

— L.L. Barkat

#moby-dick #novel-writing #writers #writing #experience

If the work comes to the artist and says, 'Here I am, serve me,' then the job of the artist, great or small, is to serve. The amount of the artist's talent is not what it is about. Jean Rhys said to an interviewer in the Paris Review, 'Listen to me. All of writing is a huge lake. There are great rivers that feed the lake, like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. And there are mere trickles, like Jean Rhys. All that matters is feeding the lake. I don't matter. The lake matters. You must keep feeding the lake. ↗

— Madeleine L'Engle

#art

On every page, confidence fights with self-doubt. Every sentence is an act of faith. Why would anybody want to do it? ↗

— David Morrell

#novelist #purpose #questions #writer #writing

I will no longer let the fear of vicious comments or replies stop me from speaking what I believe to be right. I will also never give a message that everybody will agree with. I know that even my most faithful followers will never agree 100% with what I say. I also know that they know that and are fine with it. I am done letting the bullies win. They won’t anymore. Not here. ↗

— Dan Pearce

#blogs #bullies #bully #followers #negative

Nolan Bushnell, the creator of the Atari video game system, once stated, ‘Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has had an idea, It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference. ↗

— Mark Batterson

#faith #god #writing-life #faith

I have no problems or issues with screenwriting in general. ↗

— Bret Easton Ellis

#i #issues #problems #screenwriting

Delicious days ahead for solitude and writing and, oh yes, the holiday meal with family. Live with my characters until term starts in 2012! ↗

— Stella Atrium

#characters #writing #writing-craft #writing-life #family

And, as always, I thank my family who are an amazing network of support. ↗

— Laisha Rosnau

#blood-relations #fear #fishing #hopelessness #the-real-writing

I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip. ↗

— John Kennedy Toole

#dip #dunce #food #history #writing