“If you’re good enough, like Picasso, you can put noses and breasts wherever you like. But first you have to know where they belong.” – Alice K. Turner, fiction editor, Playboy magazine, 1980 – 2000
13 thoughts on “Quotable”
Look up his early works, and you’ll find the truth in this quote.
Never, ever use repetitive redundancies. Don’t use no double negatives. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. -– William Safire
A note to all the newbies who fall into the “I don’t need to learn no stinking structure” trap.
🫣🫣🫣
“The story is not in the words, it’s in the struggle.” – Paul Auster
Satchel Paige’s “Six Rules for Staying Young”
1. Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.
2. If you stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it
with cool thoughts.
3. Keep the juices fl owing by jangling around gently
as you move.
4. Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in
society. The social ramble ain’t restful.
5. Avoid running at all times.
6. Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on
you.
4,5, & 6 made me laugh. Thanks for sharing!
A great insight.
Knowing and internalizing story structure means I can then really get creative with my fiction writing.
Exactly!
I like this quote by Stephen King: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot
When you get a bad review.
“Sentimental rubbish… Show me one page that contains an idea.”– Odessa Courier on Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, 1877.
“Shakespeare’s name, you may depend on it, stands absurdly too high and will go down.”– Lord Byron, 1814.
“His fame is gone out like a candle in a snuff and his memory will always stink.” — Wm. Winstanley on Milton, 1687.
“Monsieur Flaubert is not a writer.” — La Figaro, 1857.
“This is a book of the season only.”– NY Herald Tribune on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“We do not believe in the permanence of his reputation. Our children will wonder what their ancestors could have meant by putting Dickens at the head of the novelists of today.”– Saturday Review, 1858.
“Nothing odd will do long. Tristam Shandy did not last.” — Samuel Johnson in 1776 on a novel that has never gone out of print.
“The only consolation which we have in reflecting upon it is that it will never be generally read.” –J. Lorimer reviewing Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, 1847.
Look up his early works, and you’ll find the truth in this quote.
Never, ever use repetitive redundancies. Don’t use no double negatives. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. -– William Safire
A note to all the newbies who fall into the “I don’t need to learn no stinking structure” trap.
🫣🫣🫣
“The story is not in the words, it’s in the struggle.” – Paul Auster
Satchel Paige’s “Six Rules for Staying Young”
1. Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.
2. If you stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it
with cool thoughts.
3. Keep the juices fl owing by jangling around gently
as you move.
4. Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in
society. The social ramble ain’t restful.
5. Avoid running at all times.
6. Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on
you.
4,5, & 6 made me laugh. Thanks for sharing!
A great insight.
Knowing and internalizing story structure means I can then really get creative with my fiction writing.
Exactly!
I like this quote by Stephen King: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot
When you get a bad review.
“Sentimental rubbish… Show me one page that contains an idea.”– Odessa Courier on Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, 1877.
“Shakespeare’s name, you may depend on it, stands absurdly too high and will go down.”– Lord Byron, 1814.
“His fame is gone out like a candle in a snuff and his memory will always stink.” — Wm. Winstanley on Milton, 1687.
“Monsieur Flaubert is not a writer.” — La Figaro, 1857.
“This is a book of the season only.”– NY Herald Tribune on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“We do not believe in the permanence of his reputation. Our children will wonder what their ancestors could have meant by putting Dickens at the head of the novelists of today.”– Saturday Review, 1858.
“Nothing odd will do long. Tristam Shandy did not last.” — Samuel Johnson in 1776 on a novel that has never gone out of print.
“The only consolation which we have in reflecting upon it is that it will never be generally read.” –J. Lorimer reviewing Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, 1847.
Wow!
😂