Language is not the lowborn, gawky servant of thought and feeling; it is need, thought, feeling, and perception itself. The shape of sentences, the song in its syllables, the rhythm of its movement, is the movement of the imagination.
WILLIAM H. GASS
The best work that anybody ever writes is the work that is on the verge of embarrassing him, always. —Arthur Miller
And now a year’s passed since the idea for Starshine first struck. A year that wrought seven chapters, roughly half the novel. Distracted much? Of course. No use in crafting excuses, it’s simply a matter of prioritization. I don’t write…
Writing is not like painting where you add. It is not what you put on the canvas that the reader sees. Writing is more like a sculpture where you remove, you eliminate in order to make the work visible. Even…
Writing a novel is like living in a house full of ghosts — even when you ignore them, they’re still there, waiting to talk to you. They have all the time in the world. No matter how much you avoid…
We suggest that whenever anyone sits down to write he should imagine a crowd of his prospective readers (rather than a grammarian in cap and gown) looking over his shoulder. They will be asking such questions as: “What does this…
All the time I’m not writing I feel like a criminal…. It’s much more relaxing to actually write. -FRAN LEBOWITZ
Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you finish this book? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the book. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die.
ANNE ENRIGHT