Quotes on the Art of Writing

[JLT]

The old forum had a thread on "quotes from writers" specifically about the art and process of writing. I thought it might be a good idea to plant this seed here.

i'll start:

"The life of writing is a good life. It's a lucky, lucky life. Writers complain too much about the difficulty of it. The difficulty of it is no more than the difficulty of being a dentist or being a teacher or doing any of a thousand other things. Weariness and gloom can strike anybody. It's not limited to writers.

"It's a very good life, writing... for the very simple reason that writing is always a search for the particular. And that's where the happiness lies ...it is in the details. Happiness lies in small, particular things. Gloom and depression are general, but happiness is always specific."

--Garrison Keillor

 

[JLT]

"The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning-bug."

--Mark Twain

 

[Also]

"The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning-bug."

--Mark Twain

And fireflies and lightning bugs versus firebugs and lightning flies.

 

[Pik]

I recently read this on Wikipedia:

Three Rules To Write By

Write naked. That means to write what you would never say.

Write in blood. As if ink is so precious you can't waste it.

Write in exile, as if you are never going to get home again, and you have to call back every detail.

— Denis Johnson