“When an idea comes, spend silent time with it. Remember Keats's idea of Negative Capability and Kipling's advice to "drift, wait and obey". Along with your gathering of hard data, allow yourself also to dream your idea into being.” WritingIdeasHardDreamRememberWaitingAdviceNegativeSilentDataCapabilityGatheringKipling Author:Rose Tremain
“Never be satisfied with a first draft. In fact, never be satisfied with your own stuff at all, until you're certain it's as good as your finite powers can enable it to be.” WritingFirstsFactsCertainStuffSatisfiedFinite Author:Rose Tremain
“Writing is a strange synthesis between the two parts of your mind: the analytical side and the side that knows nothing at all, and you have to allow the dreaming side free rein.” KnowsWritingMindTwoDreamSidesStrangeReinsSynthesis Author:Rose Tremain
“Learn from cinema. Be economic with descriptions. Sort out the telling detail from the lifeless one. Write dialogue that people would actually speak.” PeopleWritingSpeakEconomicDetailsDialogueCinemaDescriptionLifeless Author:Rose Tremain
“Pace is crucial. Fine writing isn't enough. Writing students can be great at producing a single page of well-crafted prose; what they sometimes lack is the ability to take the reader on a journey, with all the changes of terrain, speed and mood that a long journey involves. Again, I find that looking at films can help. Most novels will want to move close, linger, move back, move on, in pretty cinematic ways.” WayWantWritingWellsLongSometimesEnoughHelpingFilmMovingAbilityNovelJourneyStudentsFineReaderPagesSpeedMoodProsePaceCrucialCinematicTerrainLong Journey Author:Rose Tremain
“Forget the boring old dictum, 'Write about what you know.' Instead, seek out an unknown yet knowable area of experience that's going to enhance your understanding of the world and write about that.” KnowsWorldWritingUnderstandingForgetAreasBoring Author:Rose Tremain
“At the moment, I'm toying with a new idea for a book, but fully engaged with writing screenplays, so the book idea - which needs empty space in my head - is barely formed yet.” NeedsWritingBookIdeasMomentsSpaceEmptyEngagedEngagementNew IdeasScreenplaysEmpty Space Author:Rose Tremain
“A novel usually takes me two years. A year to research and plan and dream. Then a year to write.” WritingYearsTwoDreamNovelPlansResearchTwo YearsTake Me Author:Rose Tremain
