“I never completely forget myself except when I am writing and I am never more completely myself than when I am writing.”
Writers Speak
Grace Paley on what we don’t know
Writers Speak“We write about what we don’t know about what we know.”
Barbara Tuchman on motion in prose
Writers Speak“I try for motion in every paragraph. I hate sentences that begin “There was a storm.” Instead, write “A storm burst.”
– Barbara Tuchman
Simone de Beauvoir on a day without writing
Writers Speak“A day in which I don’t write leaves a taste of ashes.
Nicholson Baker on writing every day
Writers Speak“If you write every day, you’re going to write a lot of things that aren’t terribly good, but you’re going to have given things a chance to have their moments of sprouting.”
Peter De Vries on bacon in a skillet
Writers Speak“When I see a paragraph shrinking under my eyes like a strip of bacon in a skillet, I know I’m on the right track.”
Lee Child on the loneliness of the writing life
Writers Speak“Here is the fundamental reality about the writing business. It’s lonely. You spend all your time writing and then wondering whether what you wrote is any good.”
E.L. Doctorow on writing with the headlights on night
Writers Speak“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go …It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
Writer Speak: Meaning
Writers Speak“Part of becoming a writer is the desire to have everything mean something.”
Jack Hart on the origins of good narrative
Writers Speak“Good narrative comes from specific real-world decisions made by writers and editors who not only understand the abstract principles of story, but also know how to apply them in the real world.”