“And some poets are far better read off the page because they're very bad speakers. I'm thinking of one in particular whom I won't name, a good poet, and he reads in such a dry, boring way, your eyes start drooping.” ThinkingWayEyeLiteratureNamesParticularPoetPagesBoringDrySpeakers Author:Norman MacCaig
“When I was eight years old, I wrote a paragraph-long short story about a goat on my mother's hundred-pound, black-and-white-screen laptop. The story came about largely because I liked the way the word 'goat' looked on the page, but I decided then and there that I wanted to be a writer. That desire never changed.” WayYearsLongStoriesWantedMotherDesireBlackWhiteChangedPagesHundredDecidedEightScreensPoundsShort StoryBlack And WhiteNever ChangeGoatsParagraphLaptops Author:Tea Obreht
“She never managed to find herself in these books no matter how hard she tried, exhuming traits from between the pages and donning them for an hour, a day, a week. We think in some ways, we have all done this our whole lives, searching for the book that will give us the keys to ourselves, let us into a wholly formed personality as though it were a furnished room to let. As though we could walk in and look around and say to the gray-haired landlady behind us, "We'll take it."” ThinkingWayGivingLooksBookMatterHardDoneWholeHoursWalksRoomsBehindsWeekKeysPersonalityPagesWhole LifeGrayTraitsSister Author:Eleanor Brown
“The way you get better is putting words on the page and getting them behind you.” WayBehindsPagesGet BetterBehind You Author:Ridley Pearson
“I write in a pretty straightforward way. I kind of sit down at page one and start writing.” WayWritingKindPagesStraightforward Author:Zack Snyder
“Never sit staring at a blank page or screen. If you find yourself stuck, write. Write about the scene you're trying to write. Writing about is easier than writing, and chances are, it will give you your way in.” IfsWayGivingWritingTryingChanceEasierScenePagesScreensStuckStaringFinding YourselfBlankChances AreBlank Pages Author:Laini Taylor
“I'd always envied actors who got to play real people or got to do research. I've always just had these scripts where, I mean not in a bad way, but it was right on the page.” PeopleWayMeanRealPlayActorsPagesResearchScriptsEnvied Author:Luke Wilson
“It's the form it takes when it comes out the other side, of course, that gives a story something unique--its life. The story, in the way it has arrived at what it is on the page, has been something learned, by dint of the story's challenge and the work that rises to meet it--a process as uncharted for the writer as if it had never been attempted before.” IfsWayGivingHas BeensStoriesFormCoursesProcessSidesChallengesPagesUniqueUncharted Book:Stories, Essays, and Memoir Source: Stories, Essays, and Memoir
“It is a little out of touch to presume that someone wants to follow your every observation and insight over the course of hundreds of pages without any sort of payoff. That's why writing isn't a one-way street. You have to give something back: an interesting plot, a surprise, a laugh, a moment of tenderness, a mystery for the reader to piece together.” WayWantGivingWritingLittlesMomentsTogetherCoursesInterestingLaughingPiecesMysteryStreetsReaderPagesSurpriseInsightObservationOne WayPlotTendernessPayoff Author:Christopher Bollen