“Only in lament does the artist cry out, 'Birds build but not I build," and the lament points to how things ought to be: art builds; it never stands pat; it destroys only evil. If art destroys good, mistaking it for evil, then that art is false, an error; it requires denunciation. This, I have claimed, is what true art is about-preservation of the world of gods and men.” MenWritingArtTruthFictionGodsWrite Book:On Moral Fiction Source: On Moral Fiction
“He must shape simultaneously (in an expanding creative moment) his characters, plot, and setting, each inextricably connected to the others; he must make his whole world in a single, coherent gesture, as a potter makes a pot...” WritingCharacterSettingWriterPlotStory Book:The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers Source: The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers
“In writing short stories—as in writing novels—take one thing at a time. (For some writers, this advice I'm giving may apply best to a first draft; for others, it may hinder the flow at first but be useful when time for revision comes.) Treat a short passage of description as a complete unit and make that one small unit as perfect as you can; then turn to the next unit— a passage of dialogue, say—and make that as perfect as you can. Move to larger units, the individual scenes that together make up the plot, and work each scene until it sparkles.” WritingShort Story Writing Book:On Becoming a Novelist Source: On Becoming a Novelist
“The best way a writer can find to keep himself going is to live off his (or her) spouse. The trouble is that, psychologically at least, it’s hard. Our culture teaches none of its false lessons more carefully than that one should never be dependent. Hence the novice or still unsuccessful writer, who has enough trouble believing in himself, has the added burden of shame. It’s hard to be a good writer and a guilty person; a lack of self-respect creeps into one’s prose.” WritingDependence Book:On Becoming a Novelist Source: On Becoming a Novelist
“Writing a novel is like heading out over the open sea in a small boat. It helps, if you have a plan and a course laid out.” IfsWritingHelpingCoursesNovelPlansSeaBoatHeadingsFiction WritingWriters And WritingWriting FictionWriting By Writers Author:John Gardner
“People will tell you that writing is too difficult, that it's impossible to get your work published, that you might as well hang yourself. Meanwhile, they'll keep writing and you'll have hanged yourself.” PeopleWritingWellsMightDifficultImpossible Author:John Gardner
“As every writer knows... there is something mysterious about the writer's ability, on any given day, to write. When the juices are flowing, or the writer is 'hot', an invisible wall seems to fall away, and the writer moves easily and surely from one kind of reality to another... Every writer has experienced at least moments of this strange, magical state. Reading student fiction one can spot at once where the power turns on and where it turns off, where the writer writes from 'inspiration' or deep, flowing vision, and where he had to struggle along on mere intellect.” KnowsWritingKindStatesMomentsRealityInspirationSeemsMovingTurnsFallReadingGivenAbilityFictionVisionStruggleStudentsStrangeWallHotMereIntellectInvisibleSpotsMysteriousJuiceTurn Off Author:John Gardner
“We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images.” WritingFirstsReadingForgetNovelFivePagesPrintedPrinted Word Author:John Gardner
“To write with taste, in the highest sense, is to write [...] so that no one commits suicide, no one despairs; to write [...] so that people understand, sympathize, see the universality of pain, and feel strengthened, if not directly encouraged to live on. If there is good to be said, the writer should say it. If there is bad to be said, he should say it in a way that reflects the truth that, though we see the evil, we choose to continue among the living. The true artist [...] gets his sense of worth and honor from his conviction that art is powerful--” PeopleIfsWayFeelsShouldWritingArtSaidPainArtistEvilPowerfulHonorTasteDespairHighestArt IsSuicideConvictionCommitTrue ArtistsUniversality Author:John Gardner
“One must be just a little crazy to write a great novel. One must be capable of allowing the darkest, most ancient and shrewd parts of one’s being to take over the work from time to time.” WritingLittlesNovelCrazyCapableAncientAllowingGreat Novels Author:John Gardner
“A common and usually unfortunate answer is “Write about what you know.” Nothing can be more limiting to the imagination, nothing is quicker to turn on the psyche's censoring devices and distortion systems, than trying to write truthfully.” KnowsWritingImagination Author:John Gardner
“Fiction does not spring into the world fully grown, like Athena. It is the process of writing and rewriting that makes a fiction original, if not profound.” IfsWorldWritingDoeInspirationProcessFictionSpringOriginalsProfoundRewritingAthena Author:John Gardner
“Art Gropes. It stalks like a hunter lost in the woods, listening to itself and to everything around it, unsure of itself, waiting to pounce.” WritingArtLostWaitingListeningWoodsHuntersStalkingUnsureLost In The Woods Author:John Gardner
