“Always be a poet, even in prose.”
~ Charles Baudelaire
Source: BrainyQuote
Posted in About Writing, Poetry, Writing Advice, Writing Style
Tagged art, career advice, charles baudelaire, poetry, prose, style, writing, writing style
“You’re going to have setbacks, and you’re going to be okay. This isn’t your one big chance. It’s the start of a long and winding (and heartbreaking and glorious) journey.”
~ Janni Simner, Author of the post-apocalyptic Bones of Faerie trilogy and the Iceland-based fantasy Thief Eyes
Source: For new writers (and also for the rest of us), August 6, 2013
“Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.”
~ Lillian Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984)
Source: A Quotation: Lillian Hellman
Posted in About Writing, Criticism, Reading, Truth, Writers as Critics, Writers on Life, Writing Style
Tagged Hellman, life, Lillian Hellman, truth, writing style
“In terms of being late or not starting at all, then it’s never too late.”
~ Alison Headley, Digital Preservation and Blogs, SXSW 2006
Source: Quotations Page
“I don’t like work–no man does–but I like what is in the work–the chance to find yourself. Your own reality–for yourself not for others–what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.”
~ Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Nałęcz Korzeniowski, 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924)
Source: GoodReads
Posted in Why Writers Write, Writing Advice, Writing is Work
Tagged Conrad, creativity, Joseph Conrad, Korzeniowski, life, reality, work, writing career
“You ask for the distinction between the terms “Editor” and “Publisher”: an editor selects manuscripts; a publisher selects editors.”
~ M. Lincoln Schuster
Source: “Writing.” Ink.
“Genius is fine for the ignition spark, but to get there someone has to see that the radiator doesn’t leak and no tire is flat.”
~ Rex Todhunter Stout (December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975), The Doorbell Rang
Source: GoodReads
Posted in About Writing, Beginning Writers Take Heed, From Whence Spring Ideas, Writers as Artists, Writers as Thinkers, Writing Advice, Writing as a Career, Writing is Work
Tagged beginning writers, career advice, creativity, getting started, imagination, invention, Rex Stout, Rex Todhunter Stout, Stout, work, writing, writing career
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
~ Mark Twain, aka Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)
Source: Quotes4All: Mark Twain
Posted in About Writers, Beginning Writers Take Heed, Writers as Artists, Writers as Thinkers, Writing Advice
Tagged beginning writers, career advice, Clemens, creativity, dreams, emotion, getting started, ideas, life, Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, support, truth, Twain, writing career
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
~ Madeleine L’Engle (November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007)
Source: About.com: Women’s History: Madeleine L’Engle Quotes
Reblogged with permission from: Some fun quotes from science fiction writers by Fr. Ernesto Obregon
— Arthur C. Clarke
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Corollary to Clarke’s First Law – When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion—the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right.
— Isaac Asimov
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Corollary to Clarke’s Third Law – Any sufficiently rigorously defined magic is indistinguishable from technology.
— Larry Niven
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Corollary to Niven’s Law – There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is “idiot.”
— S. M. Stirling
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Clarke’s Second Law of Egodynamics – For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert.
— Arthur C. Clarke
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Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s Law – Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment.
— John W. Campbell, Jr.
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Hanlon’s Razor – Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
— Robert J. Hanlon
[Note, however, that this law is considered a later development of Ingham’s Maxim — Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered to the cock-up theory. —Sir Bernard Ingham]
Posted in About Writing, Beginning Writers Take Heed, Reality, The Writing Life, Writers on Life, Writing Advice
Tagged Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov, beginning writers, Campbell, career advice, Clarke, Clarke’s Laws, Egodynamics, Hanlon, Hanlon’s Razor, Ingham, Ingham's Maxim, insanity, Isaac Asimov, John W. Campbell, Larry Niven, Laws, life, Murphy’s Law, Niven, reality, Robert J. Hanlon, S. M. Stirling, science, science fiction writers, Sir Bernard Ingham, Stirling, truth, writing