January 20th birthday: David Lynch

20 Jan

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“This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.”

~ David Lynch, b. 20 January 1946

 

John Gardner: “Character is the very life of fiction.”

19 Jan

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“Character is the very life of fiction. Setting exists so that the character has someplace to stand. Plot exists so the character can discover what he is really like, forcing the character to choice and action. And theme exists only to make the character stand up and be somebody.”

~ JOHN GARDNER

 

January 19th birthday: Janis Joplin

19 Jan

 

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“On stage, I make love to 25,000 people, and then I go home alone.”

~ Janis Joplin, b. 19 January 1943

 

A.A. Milne: “Anyone can be an author.”

18 Jan

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“Almost anyone can be an author; the challenge is to collect money and fame from this state of being.”

~ A.A. Milne, b. 18 January 1882

 

January 18th birthday: Kevin Costner

18 Jan

Costner

“Failure doesn’t kill you… it increases your desire to make something happen.”

~ Kevin Costner, b. 18 January 1955

 

Aldous Huxley: “Fiction makes too much sense.”

17 Jan

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“The trouble with fiction is that it makes too much sense, whereas reality never makes sense.”

~ ALDOUS HUXLEY

January 17th birthday: Al Capone

17 Jan

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“You can achieve more with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word alone.”
~ Al Capone, b. 17 January 1899
(TIME Cover: March 24, 1930)

 

Isaac Bashevis Singer: “Three keys to successful fiction…”

16 Jan

Singer

Three characteristics a work of fiction must possess in order to be successful:

1. It must have a precise and suspenseful plot.

2. The author must feel a passionate urge to write it.

3. He must have the conviction, or at least the illusion, that he is the only one who can handle this particular theme.

~ ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER

 

January 16th birthday: Susan Sontag

16 Jan

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“Although none of the rules for becoming more alive is valid, it is healthy to keep on formulating them.”

~ Susan Sontag, b. 16 January 1933

 

J.K. Rowling: “Be ruthless about protecting your writing days.”

15 Jan

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“Be ruthless about protecting your writing days. Although writing has been my actual job for several years now, I still seem to have to fight for time in which to do it. Some people do not seem to grasp that I still have to sit down in peace and write the books, apparently believing that they pop up like mushrooms without my connivance. I must therefore guard the time allotted to writing as a Hungarian Horntail guards its firstborn egg.”

~ J.K. ROWLING