Home / Quotes / Quote by John Steinbeck

Quote by John Steinbeck

“The craft of writing is the art of penetrating other minds with the figures that are in your own mind.”

Quote by John Steinbeck

Book:Conversations with John Steinbeck

Work

Conversations with John Steinbeck

This book features a compilation of conversations between John Steinbeck and various individuals, providing a unique perspective on the mind of one of America's most celebrated writers. The discussions delve into Steinbeck's experiences, his inspirations, and his thoughts on the craft of writing, as well as his observations on the social and political landscape of his time. more

Author

John Steinbeck was an American author renowned for his profound depiction of American society and the lives of farmers. His works often explore themes of poverty, social injustice, and human nature. Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 for his significant contribution to American literature. more

You May Also Like

“To subvert is not the aim of literature, its value lies in discovering and revealing what is rarely known, little known, thought to be known but in fact not very well known of the truth of the human world. It would seem that truth is the unassailable and most basic quality of literature.”

World Writing Humans Wells Littles Facts Seems Lying Values Literature Quality Known Truth Is Aim Discovering Well Known Revealing

Author:Gao Xingjian

“There is poetry in fiction. If you cannot see it and feel it when you write, you need to step back and examine what you are doing wrong. If you have not figured out how to write a simple declarative sentence and make it sing with that poetry, you are not yet ready to write an entire book.”

Ifs Needs Feels Writing Book Simple Fiction Steps Ready Sentences

Book:Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life

Source: Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life

“I believe that the short story is as different a form from the novel as poetry is, and the best stories seem to me to be perhaps closer in spirit to poetry than to novels.”

Writing Believe Different Stories Seems Form Spirit I Believe Novel Poetry Is Short Story

Author:Tobias Wolff

“I think my first general rule is that most of my experiences are not that interesting. It's usually other people's experiences. It's not that entirely conscious. Somebody tells me a story or, you know, repeats an anecdote that somebody else told them and I just feel like I have to write it down so I don't forget - that means for me, something made it fiction-worthy. Interesting things never happen to me, so maybe two or three times when they do, I have to use them, so I write them down.”

“Honestly, when you start talking about genres, you're talking as much about the business side of writing as anything else. Certainly there are elements of reader expectation that play into various genres, and those are important, but it also becomes about packaging, placement, audience....In the end, I'm not a fan of labels. I think the best fiction blurs the boundaries between genres, stretches and breaks them.”

Thinking Writing Important Ends Play Sides Fiction Talking Break Audience Fans Reader Elements Expectations Various Honestly Boundaries Labels Genre Blur Packaging Placement

Author:Kristin Hannah

“Ultimately the first, best step in getting your work noticed is to write good work. If people don't engage in your writing, no amount of serialization or free downloads is going to matter. You have to write something worth reading, and often it takes time to get at that level.”

People Ifs Writing Firsts Matter Reading Levels Steps Amount Take Time Good Work Downloads It Takes Time Worth Reading

Author:John Scalzi

“A woman journalist in England asked me why Americans usually wrote about their childhood and a past that happened only in imagination, why they never wrote about the present. This bothered me until I realized why - that a novelist wants to know how it comes out, that he can't be omnipotent writing a book about the present, particularly this one.”

Knows Want Writing Book Past Imagination Know How Happened Childhood England I Realized Journalist Novelists Bothered Writing A Book Omnipotent

Book:Conversations with John Steinbeck

Source: Conversations with John Steinbeck

“The first thing you have to know about writing is that it is something you must do every day - every morning or every night, whatever time it is that you have. Ideally, the time you decide on is also the time when you do your best work.”

Knows Writing Firsts Night Morning Every Night Every Morning Best Work

Book:This Year You Write Your Novel

Source: This Year You Write Your Novel

“If a young aspirant had a modicum of skill and a busy typewriter she or he would sooner or later get a foothold in one of the magazines and a leaping start on the ladder upward.”

Ifs Writing Young Skills Busy Magazines Sooner Or Later Ladders Typewriters

Author:James A. Michener

“How fascinating to a child are words: the shapes, sounds, textures and mysterious meanings of words; the way words link together into elastic patterns called "sentences." And these sentences into paragraphs, and beyond.”

Way Writing Children Together Sound Shapes Patterns Sentences Mysterious Fascinating Links Texture Paragraph Meanings Of Words

Author:Joyce Carol Oates