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Quote by John Steinbeck

“I suffer as always from the fear of putting down the first line. It is amazing the terrors, the magics, the prayers, the straitening shyness that assail one. It is as though the words were not only indelible but that they spread out like dye in water and color everything around them. A strange and mystic business, writing.”

Quote by John Steinbeck

Book:Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters

Work

Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters

This book is a compilation of correspondence that delves into the creative process of crafting a novel, focusing on the development of the story 'The East of Eden'. The letters provide insight into the author's thoughts, character development, and narrative structure. 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

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“Writers are greatly respected. The intelligent public is wonderfully patient with them, continues to read them, and endures disappointment after disappointment, waiting to hear from art what it does not hear from theology, philosophy, social theory, and what it cannot hear from pure science. Out of the struggle at the center has come an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are and what this life is for.”

Source: There Is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Nonfiction

“When it comes to details, more is not necessarily better.”

Writing Details

Book:Get That Novel Written!

Source: Get That Novel Written!

“I first heard the term "meta-novel" at a writer's conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The idea is that even though each book in a series stands alone, when read collectively they form one big ongoing novel about the main character. Each book represents its own arc: in book one of the series we meet the character and establish a meta-goal that will carry him through further books, in book two that meta-goal is tested, in book three - you get the picture.”

Source: How to Write Killer Fiction: The Funhouse of Mystery & the Roller Coaster of Suspense

“Think about it: Reducing crime and poverty and ensuring that we have an educated, stable work force has a direct effect on you and me and the future of our country.”

Thinking Country Force Poverty Effects Crime Direct Educated Our Country Stable Reducing Direct Effect

Author:Jane Fonda

“Write from the heart, what has meaning to you personally; have the patience and discipline to sit down and do it every day whether you're feeling inspired or not; never be afraid to take chances, in fact, make sure you take chances. As soon as you become complacent, you become boring ... . Read as much as possible, not simply in the genre, or what you think you're interested in, but other things as well.”

Thinking Writing Wells Heart Facts Feelings Chance Discipline Down And Inspired Boring Genre Take A Chance Complacent

Author:Charles de Lint

“There are readers who want every point to be clearly and unambiguously set forth, and there are those who want to pry ideas and meanings out for themselves.”

Want Writing Ideas Reader

Author:John M. Ford

“I don't know what issues concerning identity have helped contemporary fiction evolve to what it is now. All I know is that the range of voices that are being heard and published is a lot more diverse than when I was coming up.”

Knows Writing Voice Fiction Issues Heard Identity Contemporary Evolve Range Diverse Contemporary Fiction

Author:Jessica Hagedorn

“Play: It is an an activity which proceeds within certain limits of time and space, in a visible order, according to rules freely accepted, and outside the sphere of necessity or material utility. The play-mood is one of rapture and enthusiasm, and is sacred or festive in accordance with the occasion. A feeling of exaltation and tension accompanies the action.”

Play Feelings Action Certain Order Space Materials Activity Limits Sacred Accepted Mood Enthusiasm Occasions Tension Visible Spheres Time And Space Utility Rapture Accompany Exaltation Festive

Book:Homo Ludens

Source: Homo Ludens

“I have never belonged wholeheartedly to country or State, to my circle of friends or even to my own family... Such isolation is sometimes bitter, but I do not regret being cut off from the understanding and sympathy of other men. I lose something by it,to be sure, but I am compensated for it in being rendered independent of the customs, opinions and prejudices of others, and am not tempted to rest my peace of mind upon such shifting foundations.”

Source: The fight against war

“They know your name, address, telephone number, credit card numbers, who ELSE is driving the car "for insurance", ... your driver's license number. In the state of Massachusetts, this is the same number as that used for Social Security, unless you object to such use. In THAT case, you are ASSIGNED a number and you reside forever more on the list of "weird people who don't give out their Social Security Number in Massachusetts."”