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Ifs Quotes

“It's not possible to advise a young writer because every young writer is so different. You might say, "Read," but a writer can read too much and be paralyzed. Or, "Don't read, don't think, just write," and the result could be a mountain of drivel. If you're going to be a writer you'll probably take a lot of wrong turns and then one day just end up writing something you have to write, then getting it better and better just because you want it to be better, and even when you get old and think, "There must be something else people do," you won't be able to quit.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWantWritingDifferentEndsMightAbleYoungTurnsResultsToo MuchOne DayMountainQuittingAdviseParalyzedYoung WritersWrong TurnDrivel
Author:Alice Munro
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“Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.”

IfsNeedsWritingSometimesGrowsBitsWonderOur LivesHeardWake UpMake SenseVisibleDesperateEndeavor
Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
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“A cardinal rule of writing is never interrupt yourself to explain something. If you must bring up an obscure topic, drop informative hints about it as you go along so that you don't end up with the entire explanation all in one place. This keeps you from skidding to a stop and sounding teacherish. Otherwise it's better to omit the obscure topic altogether, or as mothers might put it: if you can't say it interestingly, don't say it at all.”

IfsWritingEndsMightMotherExplanationObscureTopicsHintsCardinalsInformativeCardinal Rules
Author:Florence King
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“It is indeed acceptable practice to sometimes split an infinitive. If infinitive-splitting makes available just the shade of meaning you desire or if avoiding the separation creates a confusing ambiguity or patent artificiality, you are entitled to happily go ahead and split!”

IfsWritingSometimesDesirePracticeAvailableSeparationShadeAcceptableSplitsEntitledAvoidingConfusingAmbiguityPatentsSplittingArtificialityInfinitive
Book:Lederer on Language: A Celebration of English, Good Grammar, and Wordplay
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“It has long been a tradition among novel writers that a book must end by everybody getting just what they wanted, or if the conventional happy ending was impossible, then it must be a tragedy in which one or both should die. In real life very few of us get what we want, our tragedies don't kill us, but we go on living them year after year, carrying them with us like a scar on an old wound.”

IfsWantShouldWritingYearsLongBookRealEndsWantedDiesNovelImpossibleGoes OnTraditionTragedyWoundsReal LifeScarConventionalHappy EndingsOld Wounds
Author:Willa Cather
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“Part of my function as a writer is to dream awake. And that usually happens. If I sit down to write in the morning, in the beginning of that writing session and the ending of that session, I'm aware that I'm writing. I'm aware of my surroundings. It's like shallow sleep on both ends, when you go to bed and when you wake up. But in the middle, the world is gone and I'm able to see better.”

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Author:Stephen King
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“The single most important technique for making progress is to write ten words. Doesn't matter if you're badly stuck, or your day is completely jam-packed, or you're away from your computer - carry a small paper notebook and write a sentence of description while you're waiting on line at a coffee shop. I think of this as baiting a hook. Even if you have a few days in a row where nothing comes except those ten words, I find that as long as you have to think about the novel enough to write ten words, the chances are that more will come.”

IfsThinkingWritingLongImportantMatterEnoughWaitingLinesChanceNovelProgressTenPaperComputerSentencesTechniqueCoffeeStuckShopsDescriptionHookJamChances AreNotebookCoffee Shop
Author:Naomi Novik
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“At the risk, then, of being shunned by some of my gloomier peers, I venture to tell you that writers work like demons, suffer greatly, and are also happy, in unmistakable ways, some of the time. If we had no knowledge of happiness, our novels wouldn't sufficiently resemble real life. Some of us are even made a little bit happy, on occasion, by the writing process itself. I mean, really, if there wasn't some sort of enjoyment to be derived, would any of us keep doing it?”

IfsWayWritingMeanLittlesMadeRealSufferingBitsProcessNovelRiskLittle BitReal LifeOccasionsEnjoymentDemonPeersVentureWriting Process
Author:Michael Cunningham
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“If you're going to be a writer you should sit down and write in the morning, and keep it up all day, every day. Charles Bukowski, no matter how drunk he got the night before or no matter how hungover he was, the next morning he was at his typewriter. Every morning. Holidays, too. He'd have a bottle of whiskey with him to wake up with, and that's what he believed. That's the way you became a writer: by writing. When you weren't writing, you weren't a writer.”

IfsWayShouldWritingMatterNightNextMorningWake UpDown AndDrunkHolidayBottlesEvery MorningWhiskeyTypewriters
Author:Lawrence Ferlinghetti
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“The most upsetting thing is that the US is a leader in the world, and if they don't sign, then how do you expect to convince Russian and China and Iran, Pakistan, all these other countries, to sign? They simply won't. (The US government) feels it's against their constitutional right to bear arms, or they've said that it's needed in North and South Korea, on the border. I don't think any of these are good enough excuses for the damage.”

IfsThinkingWorldFeelsSaidCountryEnoughGovernmentLeaderArmsBearsNeededSouthExcuseChinaBordersUpsetDamageConvinceIranGood EnoughOther CountriesPakistanKoreaRight To Bear ArmsSouth KoreaNorth And SouthLandmines
Author:Angelina Jolie
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“Unruly beings are as unlimited as space They cannot possibly all be overcome, But if I overcome thoughts of anger alone This will be equivalent to vanquishing all foes. Where would I possibly find enough leather With which to cover the surface of the earth? But (wearing) leather just on the soles of my shoes Is equivalent to covering the earth with it. Likewise it is not possible for me To restrain the external course of things; But should I restrain this mind of mine What would be the need to restrain all else?”

IfsNeedsShouldMindEnoughWould BeEarthCoursesSpaceMinesOvercomingShoesSurfaceBuddhistShould IUnlimitedFoeCoveringLeatherUnruly
Author:Shantideva
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“Not many people are willing to give failure a second opportunity. They fail once and it is all over. The bitter pill of failure is often more than most people can handle. If you are willing to accept failure and learn from it, if you are willing to consider failure as a blessing in disguise and bounce back, you have got the essential of harnessing one of the most powerful success forces.”

PeopleIfsLifeGivingMotivationalSuccessOpportunityForcePowerfulAcceptingFailingWillingBlessingEssentialsHandleBitterMost PowerfulDisguisePillsBounceBlessings In Disguise
Author:Joseph Sugarman
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