To write, ‘Read, read, read' and other great tips
Chekov, Faulkner, Mishima, Poe, Roberts, Castillo, Angelou & key traits of successful authors
‘Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.’
‘It's not a matter of old or new forms; a person writes without thinking about any forms, he writes because it flows freely from his soul.’ —Anton Chekhov
‘Read, read, read. Read everything: trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If not, throw it out of the window.’ —William Faulkner
“Writing novels, to me, is basically a kind of manual labor. Writing itself is mental labor, but finishing an entire book is closer to manual labor. It doesn’t involve heavy lifting, running fast or leaping high.’
‘Only knowledge can turn life’s unbearableness into a weapon.’ —Yukio Mishima
‘A short story must have a single mood & every sentence must build towards it.’
‘Setting is a character.’ —Edgar Allen Poe
‘I write every day. It’s just my job, and I’m very fortunate to love my job….I am disciplined–that’s my wiring. I have a fast writing pace–also just wiring.’
‘You can fix anything but a blank page.’ —Nora Roberts
‘I’m of the mind — and it’s debated by different writers — that creative writing cannot be taught. That’s sort of a special talent.…in the way I teach memoir writing, the number one rule is honesty. Honesty without judgement, honesty without self-criticism. Your experience is what it is and it’s only worthwhile to the reader if they believe you are being sincere.’
‘You must always write first what you feel you must write regardless of who or how many people you imagine will relate. You don’t know who you’ll reach when putting your writing out there. You mustn’t even try to guess. You must write for you first.’ —Ana Castillo
‘You have to get to a very quiet place inside yourself. And that doesn’t mean that you can’t have noise outside. I know some people who put jazz on, loudly, to write. I think each writer has her or his secret path to the muse.’
‘When you learn, teach. When you get, give.’
‘I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ —Maya Angelou
The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web. —Pablo Picasso
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Key Traits of Successful Authors
One key trait I’ve noticed that successful authors share is that they are very organized. They respect their own time as well as others’. Nothing’s left to chance so that things don’t slip through the cracks.
I've also noticed that if a writer doesn't read, they don't pick up on the correct use of language that you absorb by reading, seeing the way that words look on the page. Then they make mistakes like it is to hot, rather than too hot.
So many interesting comments on the process of writing. Everyone seems to do it differently, and maybe that's because, as humans, we are all different. Some find it easy to put down words, some have to go after the words with a hammer and mallet. To each his own way of doing it. Thank you for all the insights.