“I usually do at least a dozen drafts and progressively make more-conscious decisions. Because I've always believed stories are closer to poems than novels, I spend a lot of time on the story's larger rhythms, such as sentence and paragraph length, placement of flashbacks and dialogue.” StoriesDecisionNovelConsciousSentencesDialogueRhythmLengthDozenAlways BelieveParagraphPlacementFlashback Author:Ron Rash
“During the last dozen years the tales of suppression of free assemblage, free press, and free speech, by local authorities or the State operating under martial law have been so numerous as to have become an old story. They are attacked at the instigation of an economically and socially powerful class, itself enjoying to the full the advantages of free communications, but bent on denying them to the class it holds within its power.” YearsHas BeensWarStatesStoriesLastsLawEnjoyPowerfulClassPowerMilitaryCommunicationSpeechAuthorityAdvantageEconomicsConstitutionPressesLocalsTalesOppressionDozenFree SpeechBentDespotismSuppressionFree PressAssemblageMartial Law Author:Edward Alsworth Ross
“You grow a whole lot more as a writer by getting old stories out of the house and letting new ones come in and live with you until they grow up and are ready to go. Don't let the old ones stay there and grow fat and cranky and eat all the food out of the refrigerator. You have dozens of generations of stories inside you, but the only way to make room for the new ones is to write the old ones and mail them off.” WayWritingWholeStoriesHouseGrowsRoomsGrowing UpGenerationsReadyFatsDozenMailGetting OldRefrigeratorsCranky Author:Orson Scott Card
“I do not know if Alice in Wonderland was an original story-I was, at least, no conscious imitator in writing it-but I do know that, since it came out, something like a dozen story-books have appeared, on identically the same pattern. The path I timidly explored believing myself to be 'the first that ever burst into that silent sea'-is now a beaten high-road: all the way-side flowers have long ago been trampled into the dust: and it would be courting disaster for me to attempt that style again.” IfsKnowsWayWritingFirstsBelieveLongBookStoriesWould BeSidesPathSeaStyleFlowerConsciousOriginalsSilentPatternsDisasterDustDozenLong AgoBeatenWonderlandImitatorHigh RoadStory Book Book:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Other Tales Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Other Tales
“I've published several virtually invisible novels and several dozen even more invisible short stories over the years, all of which give me joy - unlike the cumulative experience of seeking publishers for them!” GivingYearsStoriesJoyNovelGive MeSeekingInvisibleShort StoryDozenPublishersCumulative Author:Scott Bradfield
“Any time I put together a story collection, I don't know what it's going to look like overall - or even what the title story is going to be. Over time, I end up with a dozen or so stories, and I start to see a shape to them, how they fit together, and then I write stories that complement or extend that shape.” KnowsWritingLooksEndsStoriesTogetherFitShapesTitlesCollectionsDozenComplement Author:Brian Evenson