“If we want to write, it makes sense to read—and to read like a writer. If we wanted to grow roses, we would want to visit rose gardens and try to see them the way that a rose gardener would.” IfsWayWantWritingTryingWantedGrowsGardenRoseMake SenseGardenerRose Garden Author:Francine Prose
“You can assume that if a writer's work has survived for centuries, there are reasons why this is so, explanations that have nothing to do with a conspiracy of academics plotting to resuscitate a zombie army of dead white males.” IfsReasonWhiteCenturyArmyAssumingMalesReason WhyExplanationConspiracySurvivedZombie Book:Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them Source: Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them
“If things are going well I can easily spend twelve hours a day writing, but not writing writing, just thinking and revising and taking a comma out and putting it back in.” IfsThinkingWritingWellsI CanHoursTwelveRevising Author:Francine Prose
“But if I were asked to pick one constant, one quality that seems dependable, immutable, endlessly available, I'd say that it was intensity. For nothing in Sicily seems withheld, done half way, restrained or suppressed. There's nothing to correspond to say, the ironic, the cerebral remove at which a Frenchman might consider an idea or a question, or the Scandinavian distrust of the sloppy, emotive response.” IfsWayIdeasDoneSeemsMightHalfQualityPicksConstantResponseAvailableRemoveIntensityIronicDistrustSloppyCerebralDependableFrenchmenHalf WayScandinavians Author:Francine Prose
“Too often students are being taught to read as if literature were some kind of ethics class or civics class—or worse, some kind of self-help manual. In fact, the important thing is the way the writer uses the language.” IfsWayKindImportantSelfFactsHelpingUseLiteratureLanguageClassSelf HelpStudentsTaughtEthicsImportant ThingsCivicsManuals Author:Francine Prose
“You aim for what you want and if you don't get it, you don't get it, but if you don't aim, you don't get anything.” IfsWantAimWhat You WantSelf Knowledge Author:Francine Prose
