“Goethe said, "The author whom a lexicon can keep up with is worth nothing"; Somerset Maugham says that the finest compliment he ever received was a letter in which one of his readers said: "I read your novel without having to look up a single word in the dictionary." These writers, plainly, lived in different worlds.” WorldLooksSaidDifferentNovelReaderLettersLook UpComplimentFinestDictionaryDifferent WorldsSingle WordLexicon Author:Randall Jarrell
“The constitutionality and propriety of the Federal Government assuming to enter into a novel and vast field of legislation, namely, that of providing for the care and support of all those ... who by any form of calamity become fit objects of public philanthropy. ... I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States. To do so would, in my judgment, be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive of the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded.” StatesWholeGovernmentCareFormSpiritUnitedPowerUnited StatesSupportNovelFieldsObjectsTheoryFitAuthorityJudgmentLettersConstitutionAssumingUnionsCharityContraryWelfareProvidingPhilanthropyLegislationFederal GovernmentCalamitySubversivePropriety Author:Franklin Pierce
“When I'm really involved or getting towards the end of a novel, I can write for up to ten hours a day. At those times, it's as though I'm writing a letter to someone I'm desperately in love with.” WritingI CanEndsHoursNovelInvolvedTenLetters Book:Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates Source: Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates
“Whether it's a letter, song lyrics, part of a novel, or instructions on how to fix a kitchen sink, it's writing. You keep your craft honed, you acquire the discipline to finish things. You turn into a self-taskmaster.” WritingSelfSongTurnsNovelDisciplineLettersCraftsKitchenAcquireInstructionKitchen Sinks Author:Jimmy Buffett
“I got a rejection letter from an editor at HarperCollins, who included a report from his professional reader. This report shredded my first-born novel, laughed at my phrasing, twirled my lacy pretensions around and gobbed into the seething mosh pit of my stolen clichés. As I read the report, the world became very quiet and stopped rotating. What poisoned me was the fact that the report's criticisms were all absolutely true. The sound of my landlady digging in the garden got the world moving again. I slipped the letter into the trash... knowing I'd remember every word.” WorldWritingFirstsFactsRememberMovingSoundBornNovelKnowingReaderQuietGardenCriticismLettersRejectionReportsEditorsLaughedStolenTrashPitsDiggingPretensionSeethingRotatingRejection Letters Author:David Mitchell
“Math-thinking, I would say, encourages flipping and substituting letters in words (in the novel, one of the boys double-majors in math and myth, for example, and his twin cracks a joke about the father's handwriting that morphs "cacography" into "dadography").” ThinkingFatherBoysNovelExampleMajorsJokesLettersMathMythCracksTwinsHandwriting Author:Mary Kay Zuravleff
“I saved letters from my boss. There are things in there that are directly transcribed. I was so glad I did that. Sometimes when I was writing the book I wondered if some little writer hobbit part of my brain was back there puppeteering that action. But it really never, on any conscious level, occurred to me that I would write about it. I will say, I thought probably some day there would be an ancillary character in some novel - not in the one I was currently writing - that would be a dominatrix or something.” IfsWritingLittlesBookSometimesCharacterWould BeActionLevelsBrainNovelConsciousLettersSavedGladBoss Author:Melissa Febos
“I included receipts, faxes, newspaper clippings, all sorts of things. I've read novels composed entirely of emails or letters, but not assembled across this kind of mix of materials. I wanted to create the feeling of a detective going through a box of clues.” KindFeelingsWantedNovelMaterialsLettersBoxesNewspapersClueEmailDetectivesReceiptsFax Author:Brian Pinkerton
“I've translated two of Bae's novels, A Greater Music and Recitation, which are coming from Open Letter and Deep Vellum in October and January respectively. A Greater Music is a semi-autobiographical book centred on a Korean writer moving to Berlin, learning to live and even write in a foreign language.” WritingTwoBookMovingLanguageNovelGreaterMusic IsLettersBerlinOctoberKoreanJanuaryForeign LanguageRecitationBae Author:Deborah Smith
“I've read some of Kurt Vonnegut letters from when he was young. He was a prisoner of war, and even when he was in his early twenties, there were things mentioned that showed up in his novels. One of the sweetest things in those letters was him wanting to be a writer but doubting himself, not having confidence in himself.” WarYoungNovelDoubtLettersTwentiesPrisonerSweetestPrisoner Of War Author:Susan Sarandon
“Writing a good query letter has very little to do with writing a good novel. But if you can't write the one, it makes it really hard to get the other published.” IfsWritingLittlesHardNovelLettersQueries Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“Probably the single most commen response I get from my readesr, be it through e-mails or letters, is that they did not know much, or at times, they're quite frank, they didn't care much about Afghanistan. But they pay attention more after reading these novels, and at times it has triggered this humaitarian spirt: some have donated money or at time times, people have joined humatiarian organizations that work in Afghanistan.” PeopleKnowsCareReadingPayAttentionNovelLettersOrganizationResponsePay AttentionAfghanistanMailFrank Author:Khaled Hosseini