Quotes

“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’;

Your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

-Mark Twain

“When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.”

—Quotes by Stephen King, “The Horror Writer Market and the Ten Bears,” November 1973 WD

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.” – Ernest Hemingway

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Image credit: Ernest Hemingway Photo Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

“Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”

“Young writers shouldn’t kid themselves about learning to write. The best way to do that is to train yourself in the short story. Read every damn one that’s ever been written, and there aren’t that many really good ones. You must live feverishly inside a library. Colleges are not going to do you any good unless you are born, raised and live in a library every day of your life.”

“I always say to students, give me four pages a day, every day. That’s three or four hundred thousand words a year. Most of that will be bilge, but the rest …? It will save your life!”

“Don’t talk about it; write.”
― Ray Bradbury