Best elements & writing Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“I don't consider myself an artist necessarily, but craftsmen or people in the arts, their spiritualism is sort of when you're writing well or performing well or doing whatever you do well, there's an element of that that's either God-given, a talent that you're not necessarily responsible for.”

People Writing Wells Art Artist Given Talent Elements Responsible Performing Craftsman Spiritualism Writing Well Performing Well

Author:Al Franken

“I think if you're writing from the heart, very often, the subject matter will adjust as you age... but you try to write the best song you can possibly write. For us, we have the same basic elements that make up the America sound.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Trying Heart Matter Age America Song Sound Subjects Elements Subject Matter Writing From The Heart

Author:Gerry Beckley

“There are so many different kinds of writing and so many ways to work that the only rule is this: do what works. Almost everything has been tried and found to succeed for somebody. The methods, even the ideas of successful writers contradict each other in a most heartening way, and the only element I find common to all successful writers is persistence-an overwhelming determination to succeed.”

Way Writing Kind Has Beens Ideas Different Found Common Successful Succeed Elements Determination Method Persistence Overwhelming Different Kinds Determination To Succeed

Book:For Writers Only: Inspiring Thoughts on the Exquisite Pain and Heady Joy of the Writing Life from Its Great Practitioners

Source: For Writers Only: Inspiring Thoughts on the Exquisite Pain and Heady Joy of the Writing Life from Its Great Practitioners

“A dream inspiring a story is different than placing a description of a dream in a story. When you describe a character's dream, it has to be sharper than reality in some way, and more meaningful. It has to somehow speak to plot, character, and all the rest. If you're writing something fantastical, it can be a really deadly choice because your story already has elements that can seem dreamlike.”

Ifs Way Writing Different Character Stories Dream Reality Seems Choices Speak Elements Meaningful Description Plot

Author:Jeff VanderMeer

“I think you can't write with anger. I think it always has to be with a wink. There always has to be an element of hope in what you write. Otherwise you're just getting mad and it's not going to be fun for anybody.”

Thinking Writing Fun Elements Mad

Author:Mark Russell

“If anyone ever wonders why there's nothing coming from me, it's not my fault. I'm doing the work. No, I haven't deteriorated or gone insane. Suddenly, I just can't get anything into print. And apparently I'm not alone in this. There are people of very high standing, authors who are having problems. So I have been told. In my own case, the more disturbing element is the editor-in-chief who said to me, "I think this book is terrific. It ought to be in print. I can't publish it -- I've been told I mustn't." The indication is that I'm not writing what people want to read, but I never did.”

“All the writing elements are the same. You need to tell a good story... You've got good characters... People think there's some dramatic difference between writing 'Little Bear' and the 'Hunger Games,' and as a writer, for me, there isn't.”

People Thinking Needs Writing Littles Character Stories Games Differences Bears Elements Hunger Dramatic Good Story Good Character

Author:Suzanne Collins

“You can't improv off of bad writing. Then you have to actually create your objective, which is really hard to do in an element without the skeleton to go off of.”

Writing Hard Elements Objectives Cant Skeletons Bad Writing

Author:Eliza Coupe

“A letter is never ill-timed; it never interrupts. Instead it waits for us to find the opportune minute, the quiet moment to savor the message. There is an element of timelessness about letter writing.”

Writing Moments Waiting Minutes Quiet Elements Messages Letters Ill Timelessness Letter Writing Quiet Moments

Author:Lois Wyse

“I think authors are just realizing there's no real reason to feel limited to a narrow set of genre rules in their writing. There's no reason a mystery novel can't have fantastic elements in it. Similarly, there's no reason why your epic fantasy series can't have elements of a mystery.”

Thinking Feels Writing Real Reason Realizing Fantasy Novel Mystery Elements Series Fantastic Genre Reason Why No Reason Epic Mystery Novels

Author:Patrick Rothfuss

“In modern novels I try to not let myself get away and to be here, and that's why I write about my life and myself. But even when I do that there's an element of disappearing to a place that's not me. It's "the selflessness of writing". It seldom happens, but when it does it's worth quite a lot.”

Writing Trying Doe Happens Novel Modern Elements Disappear Get Away Selflessness Modern Novel

Author:Karl Ove Knausgard

“My vocation is to write and I have known this for a long time. I hope I won't be misunderstood; I know nothing about the value of the things I am able to write. I know that writing is my vocation. When I sit down to write I feel extraordinarily at ease, and I move in an element which, it seems to me, I know extraordinarily well; I use tools that are familiar to me and they fit snugly in my hands. But when I write stories I am like someone who is in her own country, walking along streets that she has known since she was a child, between walls and trees that are hers.”

Knows Feels Writing Wells Children Long Country Stories Use Hands Seems Able Moving Values Known Tree Streets Wall Fit Walking Elements Long Time Tools Familiar Ease Vocation Misunderstood

Author:Natalia Ginzburg

“Writing for the stage is different from writing for a book. You want to write in a way that an actor has material to work with, writing in the first person not the third person, and pulling out the dramatic elements in a bigger way for a stage presentation.”

Way Want Writing Firsts Persons Book Different Actors Stage Materials Elements Thirds Bigger Dramatic Pulling Presentation First Person Third Person

Author:Brian Greene

“I enjoy writing for both kids and adults, though I think I'm better at children's stories because I was a teacher for so long, and I know that audience well. The process is no different whether I'm writing for children or adults. Really, the elements of making a good story are the same.”

Thinking Knows Writing Wells Children Long Different Stories Kids Process Enjoy Audience Teacher Elements Adults Good Story

Author:Rick Riordan

“I started to write a lot of ballads that were sultry and had a Norah Jones-for-country kind of feel. I wanted to bring elements of old soul music and old country music.”

Feels Writing Kind Soul Country Wanted Elements Ballads Music Soul Old Soul

Author:Laura Bell Bundy

“The element of craftsmanship in poetry is obscured by the fact that all men are taught to speak and most to read and write, while very few men are taught to draw or paint or write music.”

Men Writing Facts Speak Taught Elements Draws Paint Poetry Is Craftsmanship

Author:W. H. Auden

“I enjoy the research element. There are so many stories from the past that interest me, that I want to learn more about, just as an interested person. And if I'm going to learn, if I'm going to research, it's probably going to lead me to writing a novel.”

Ifs Want Writing Persons Stories Past Enjoy Interest Novel Elements Research Leading Me

Author:John Boyne

“I try when I'm writing to fill my head and my ears with all sorts of stuff and then let it settle and filter through. At a certain point it seems like fruitless activity because you're taking a lot of time and not seeming to get anything. And then, slowly, you realize you've actually digested elements and that your thinking is being freed up and the way you build up compositions is changed as a result of what you've been listening to.”

Thinking Way Writing Trying Seems Certain Stuff Realizing Results Changed Listening Activity Elements Ears Settling Composition Seeming Filters Being Free

Author:Peter Gabriel

“From my years of teaching creative writing, I know that new writers take the setting for granted, as simply a place to set the action, but setting is a vital element in fiction writing and deserves serious treatment.”

Knows Writing Years Action Fiction Creative Teaching Serious Elements Deserve Setting Settings Granted Treatment Creative Writing Fiction Writing

Author:Garry Disher

“Kafka's writings often display an insidious power to describe a wholly secular and "factical" world in which the eerie or "unheimlich" elements gang up behind or beneath the ego's awareness and immerse it in a waking dream of something Other, an alien world-order similar to ancient irrationalist cultures (in transition from primitivism to civilized mythos-culture).”

World Writing Soul Dream Order Culture Behinds Awareness Ego Elements Ancient Aliens Civilized Transition Waking Display Secular Gang World Order Insidious Eerie

Author:Kenny Smith

“It is not possible, for a poet, writing in any language, to protect himself from the tragic elements in human life.... [ellipsis in source] Illness, old age, and death--subjects as ancient as humanity--these are the subjects that the poet must speak of very nearly from the first moment that he begins to speak.”

Life Writing Firsts Humans Moments Age Poetry Humanity Speak Language Subjects Poet Source Protect Elements Tragedy Ancient Illness Old Age Human Life Tragic

Author:Louise Bogan

“Introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel. If you are writing a plot-driven genre novel make sure all your major themes/plot elements are introduced in the first third, which you can call the introduction. Develop your themes and characters in your second third, the development. Resolve your themes, mysteries and so on in the final third, the resolution.”

Ifs Writing Firsts Character Novel Mystery Development Elements Majors Thirds Finals Driven Genre Theme Plot Resolve Resolution Introducing Introduction Main Characters

Author:Michael Moorcock

“The bottom line: All of your investing decisions should be grounded in your own investment policy statement. By taking a "top-down" look at your finances and writing out a road map, your policy statement will add an important element of discipline to your approach.”

Should Writing Looks Important Lines Decision Policy Discipline Elements Approach Add Investment Bottom Investing Statements Finance Maps Grounded Bottom Line Top Down Road Maps

Author:Lewis Schiff

“But a writing project begins not just in doubt but also in faith-that if your passion is genuine, if you have mastered the elements of your craft, in the act of writing you will learn the rest of what you need to know in order to do justice to your subject.”

Ifs Knows Needs Writing Order Passion Justice Doubt Subjects Elements Projects Genuine Crafts

Book:Writing a Book That Makes a Difference

Source: Writing a Book That Makes a Difference

“I like horror, but I tend to like it as seasoning. I'd get very bored if I was told I had to write a horror novel. I'd love to write a novel with horror elements, but too much, and it doesn't taste of anything else.”

Ifs Writing Novel Too Much Taste Horror Elements Bored Seasoning

Author:Neil Gaiman

“I don't know why, but there's a certain element of panic in writing lyrics that I'm not sure I enjoy. I don't write lyrics first, ever. I've never done that. So, in a sense, the lyrics are a bit of an afterthought - it's music first.”

Knows Writing Firsts Done Certain Bits Enjoy Elements Not Sure Panic Afterthought

Author:Mike Patton

“I admire writers who have the tenacity to write a blog, and I'm told by everyone that it's an important element in remaining visible in the online world. That said, I'm personally turned off by writers' blogs that do nothing but sing their own accomplishments.”

World Writing Said Important Elements Admire Accomplishment Visible Online Blogs Tenacity Turned Off

Author:David Starkey

“The reason I love comics is that they DON'T move, and there is NO sound. As a creator I have to evoke those elements in the drawings and writing, and the reader has to create those elements in their own minds.”

Writing Mind Reason Moving Sound Reader Elements Creator Drawing Evoke

Author:Dave McKean

“Graphic design was largely about communication in an artistic or creative manner, much like writing is used to convey ideas. Many designers completely miss that aspect of the "art." Some are completely satisfied with just making things pretty, without taking the communication element into consideration.”

Writing Art Ideas Used Creative Missing Design Communication Elements Aspect Satisfied Artistic Designer Consideration Graphic Graphic Design

Author:Jeff Fisher

“My stories usually begin with the characters and some elements of how power (personal, political, magical) functions in the world. The rest develops as I write, and research helps a great deal with that. If you're going to write about an agrarian economy, research agrarian economies. If your main character is starving, then you should know what it means for a malnourished body to break down.”

Ifs Knows World Should Writing Mean Character Helping Stories Body Political Deals Break Economy Elements Research Function Breaking Down Starving Main Characters

Author:Leigh Bardugo

“I like heist movies. I like action movies that set all the elements into one and a chance to do something that comes from a great stable of writing.”

Writing Action Chance Elements Stable Action Movie Heist

Author:Jason Statham

“I believed even then that if I could transform my experience into poetry I would give it the value and dignity it did not begin to possess on its own. I thought too that if I could write about it I could come to understand it; I believed that if I could understand my life—or at least the part my work played in it—I could embrace it with some degree of joy, an element conspicuously missing from my life.”

Ifs Giving Writing Joy Values Missing Degrees Elements Dignity Embrace If I Could

Author:Philip Levine

“I think the beauty of documentary work is that it's a mystery - you never know where it's going to lead you. You start out with some notion of it, but it's very different from a script. A script you write, you shoot against, and you know what the story is going to be. There's always the element of surprise, but the surprise comes from performance, from something that's improvised, it comes from someone who sees it inside an already determined framework. In documentary, it's never determined. It's never the same, and affords enormous possibility.”

Thinking Knows Writing Different Stories Mystery Possibility Elements Performances Surprise Notion Scripts Determined Enormous Documentaries Framework Element Of Surprise

Author:Gail Levin

“Just concentrate on the performers. Make sure you get the performers, and that's it. That's all we need to do." And I was thinking, "Well what if you do both? Of course the performance is important, the writing is really important. But what if you could have the perfect marriage of making it look really slick as well?" I think that's kind of what I tried to develop as a style, and Spaced was the first TV show I did where all the elements came together.”

Ifs Thinking Needs Writing Firsts Wells Looks Kind Important Shows Together Courses Perfect Style Tvs Elements Performances What If Performers Tv Shows Slick Perfect Marriage

Author:Edgar Wright

“And it's kind of my own fault too, in the sense that I've used my own life as a literary device so much. I think people feel very comfortable reviewing the idea of me, as opposed to what I've actually written. I find that most of the time, when people write about one of my books, they're really just writing about what they think I may or may not represent, as sort of this abstract entity. Is that unfair? Not really. If I put myself in this position where I'm going to kind of weave elements of memoir into almost everything, well, I suppose that's going to happen.”

“When I was a film critic, the reason I kind of found it disenchanting was because the things that I wanted to talk about were the ideas in the movie, the theme of it, and contextual elements that weren't necessarily central to the story. But the only thing people really wanted was a plot description and how many stars I'd give it. It didn't matter how much effort you put into writing a piece, they looked at it solely as a consumer's guide toward going or not going to films.”

People Giving Writing Kind Ideas Matter Reason Stories Wanted Film Found Stars Effort Pieces Elements Critics Guides Consumers Theme Description Plot Film Critics

Author:Chuck Klosterman

“When I wrote Wakolda at first I wasn't conscious that I was writing about something so close to or that had so many similar elements with XXY. It was just after I was done writing that I noticed it. I think both teenagers in each film have many similarities, and Mengele is the extreme version of the plastic surgeon in XXY. Both stories definitely have several ideas connecting them.”

Thinking Writing Firsts Ideas Done Stories Film Elements Conscious Extremes Versions Teenager Plastic Connecting Surgeons Similarity Plastic Surgeons

Author:Lucia Puenzo

“After writing fiction for so long, I like the discovery element of nonfiction, in the sense that when you find the right information, it feels like gold.”

Feels Writing Long Fiction Information Elements Discovery Gold Nonfiction Writing Fiction

Author:Edwidge Danticat

“I write characters that are based on elements of people I know and experiences I've really had.”

People Knows Writing Character Elements

Author:Aziz Ansari

“I've always loved improvising. That's how I write songs. Creativity has an improvised element to it.”

Writing Song Creativity Elements Improvising

Author:Jamie Lidell

“It's to a writer's advantage to contain within himself elements of each sex, or any sex. It's to his advantage because it makes him able to write from the female point of view as well as the male. In some cases, of course, you will find some homosexual writers who can only write from a f - - -'s point of view. But I don't regard myself as a f - - -! Some people may. Also audiences wanted escapism. They don't like too much protest or criticism of their way of life.”

People Way Writing Wells May Able Wanted Courses Sex Views Cases Audience Too Much Elements Advantage Female Criticism Regard Males Point Of View Protest Homosexual Escapism

Author:Tennessee Williams

“I think ultimately it's just time management. You're just doing a lot more stuff. You're doing the same stuff, you're writing and you're producing, but it just comes with a lot of other things. A lot of long term thinking and plotting things out for the future, bringing elements together. I have a lot of support.”

Thinking Writing Long Together Stuff Term Support Elements Management Long Term Time Management

Author:Scott M. Gimple

“If every element of the song doesn't come within the first hour of writing, then you're never going to get it - if that makes sense. It's kind of like you need to be in a mental state where everything is so reactionary that you don't double-think anything, and so if it's not immediate then it's probably not going to happen at all, and you should probably toss the song.”

Ifs Thinking Needs Should Writing Firsts Kind States Happens Song Hours Like You Elements Make Sense Toss Reactionaries

Author:Zach Condon

“That became my aesthetic - a very Chekhovian, American realist aesthetic in the tradition of Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, and Tobias Wolff. The perfectible, realist story that had these somewhat articulate characters, a lot of silence, a lot of obscured suffering, a lot of manliness, a lot of drinking, a lot of divorces. As my writing went on, I shed a lot of those elements.”

Writing Character Stories Suffering Silence Elements Tradition Drinking Divorce Aesthetic Shed Realist Tobias Manliness Carver

Author:Jess Row

“It's one thing to write the music, it's another thing to write it down, it's another thing to play it, and something else altogether again to learn how to play it. These are the elements that are fascinating, and, you know, move my world.”

Knows World Writing Play Moving One Thing Elements Fascinating

Author:Gail Zappa

“I really like the interplay between thinking of text as ephemeral and thinking of it as a concrete, physical thing. With almost anything that I write, I'll stay completely immersed in the electronic text of it for a period of time and in another period, I'll stay immersed in it as a physical thing that can cut your skin. So with the apocalypses, I had them taped all over the wall and they had codes on them. Sometimes I would color code them in terms of thematic elements, sometimes in terms of voice, sometimes visual forms or images.”

Thinking Writing Sometimes Form Voice Term Cutting Color Wall Periods Elements Skins Code Visuals Concrete Apocalypse Ephemeral Physical Things Thematic

Author:Lucy Corin

“The first thing that happens is the cleansing of the former character. I don't think a lot of actors talk about it, but there is usually a process where you essentially purge yourself of the character played prior to the movie. Then you want to think about what the character represents, and you write down all of the elements about this character and then take the time to find some synchronicity and start breathing the character.”

Thinking Want Writing Firsts Character Happens Actors Process Elements Former Breathing Synchronicity Cleansing

Author:Vin Diesel

“I sometimes write as if I were talking to myself, or to a mirror, or to someone for the last time. There's this element of confrontation.”

Ifs Writing Sometimes Lasts Talking Elements Mirrors Last Time Confrontation

Author:Angel Olsen

“I feel better off doing what I know how to do. I feel a strong element of fictional style in travel writing anyway. Some call it creative nonfiction.”

Knows Feels Writing Strong Know How Creative Style Elements Nonfiction Feel Better Better Off Travel Writing Creative Nonfiction

Author:John Gimlette

“It [Hancock] happens to be a big budget film and big star like Will Smith, but it actually has a lot of weight to it. But it was very smart and very intelligent and had this kind of historical element to it that I was fascinated by. It's not silly. It's not stupid. It's fun, but I think it's smart. I think Akiva [Goldsman] writes really interesting material and there you have it.”

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Elements Quotes