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Short Story Writing Quotes

Browse 10 quotes about Short Story Writing.

Short Story Writing Quotes

“A novel is like a mountain. Like Mount Rainier. You ever seen Mount Rainier? It's like you're looking at God. It's so gorgeous and dynamic and powerful and meaningful. Then as you walk toward it, Things change. At one point, it's not even a mountain anymore. There's an incline, but you don't see the whole thing. There are different levels. When you get to the top, you look out from the mountain and it's just as majestic because now you're looking from God's point of view. So the novel is a mountain. Now, the short story is an island --- some trees and a beach and a little creature running around. You go on the island, but then you realize that underneath it is a mountain, but it's just underwater, so you never see it. You have to describe the whole mountain, but only from the point of view of that island. Whatever detritus gets washed up, whatever the weather is there, whatever is happening underneath, you have to somehow give that to the reader without making it explicit.”

NovelShort StoryWriting QuotesShort Story Writing
Author:Walter Mosley
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“In writing short stories—as in writing novels—take one thing at a time. (For some writers, this advice I'm giving may apply best to a first draft; for others, it may hinder the flow at first but be useful when time for revision comes.) Treat a short passage of description as a complete unit and make that one small unit as perfect as you can; then turn to the next unit— a passage of dialogue, say—and make that as perfect as you can. Move to larger units, the individual scenes that together make up the plot, and work each scene until it sparkles.”

WritingShort Story Writing
Book:On Becoming a Novelist
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“اهدنا الصراط المستقيم ''تابع الأنبياء الثلاثة جولتهم التفقدية في الأراضي السورية، ووصلوا إلى قرية صغيرة مطوقة بالأشجار الخضر، فبوغتوا بأهلها الفقراء مقتولين تناثرت جثثهم الممزقة في طرقاتها وحقولها، فاجتاحهم حزن وأسف وغضب، وناشدوا ربهم أن يحاسب القتلة شر حساب، وبادروا إلى التسلح ومطاردة القتلة. ولم يبال القتلة بالهجوم الذي شنه عليهم ثلاثة مسلحين طاعنين في السن، وتمكنوا بعد أمد قصير من تطويقهم والقضاء عليهم بغير خسائر، وسارعت سكاكينهم إلى فصل رؤوسهم عن أجسادهم، وثبتوها بأغصان إحدى الأشجار، وعلقوا ما تبقى من أجساد القتلى الثلاثة على شجرة أخرى، فبدت الشجرتان مختلفتين عن غيرهما من الأشجار وبداية لنوع جديد من الشجر سيتكاثر في الأيام القريبة الآتية.”

Short Story Writing
Author:Zakaria Tamer
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“I made many decisions, some awful and others brilliant, but I found ways to keep that openness in my soul that meant more to me than breathing. I told them over the years what I was doing, how I was trying what no one in my family had ever tried to do. When I was failing, I admitted that as well, and they listened politely. I also knew that’s all they could do. One lonely night in Connecticut, I pulled myself from a window’s ledge. No one else next to me. Another day I chose to do something someone like me should have never accomplished, and yet I did, and kept going. I learned to recognize when others, like Jean, were much better than me, because they had faith in my soul. I believed in very little, but I kept going until I would get tired or defeated, and then I would take time to discover another wall to throw myself at. I was, and I am, and I will be, a peculiar kind of immigrant’s son. I got old, and that made everything better, including me.”

StoriesImmigrantsStoryShort StoriesImmigrant ExperienceSergio TroncosoImmigrant FictionShort Story Writing
Book:A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son
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“The short story is that which, like a flash of lightning, pierces right through while establishing a viewpoint; without any other machinations, simply gestures with a finger to awaken dormant emotions; creates an entirely new imaginary world around the reader. The novel says whatever it wants. The short story, by rousing the imagination and emotions, only alludes to or provides a spark of whatever it wants to say. This is why the writer of the short story needs a reader who is impressible, emotional, swift and intelligent; to such a reader, he will be forever in debt.”

Short StoriesShort Story WritingShort Story Versus Novel
Book:The Shehnai Virtuoso and Other Stories
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