“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
~ Ernest Hemingway, b. 21 July 1899
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Saul Bellow (b. June 10): “A good novel is worth more than the best scientific study.”
10 Jun
Saul Bellow (born 10 June 1915, died 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer to win the National Book Award for Fiction three times.
Quotes on writing:
- A writer is a reader moved to emulation.
- A good novel is worth more than the best scientific study.
- People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned.
- A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life.
- I’ve discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgement and to say in his heart of hearts, “To hell with you.”
- With a novelist, like a surgeon, you have to get a feeling that you’ve fallen into good hands – someone from whom you can accept the anaesthetic with confidence.
- A writer should be able to express himself easily, naturally, copiously in a form that frees his mind, his energies. Why should he hobble himself with formalities?
- You become a writer because you’re convinced that you have a grip on reality of a certain distinctive kind. It belongs to you and to others who share such a recognition.
- When I finish something, I generally put it on the shelf, and I very seldom look at it unless somebody mentions it to me, and then I open the book, and I read it, and I say, “Did I do that?”
Michael Chabon (b. May 24): “To become a successful novelist, you need talent, luck and discipline…”
24 May
“You need three things to become a successful novelist: talent, luck and discipline. Discipline is the one element of those three things that you can control, and so that is the one that you have to focus on controlling, and you just have to hope and trust in the other two.”
~ Michael Chabon, b. 24 May 1963
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/39406565464210870/
Ian Rankin (b. April 28): “Most writers are just kids who refuse to grow up.”
28 Apr
Ian Rankin, born 28 April 1960, is a Scottish crime writer. His Rebus books have been translated into 22 languages and are bestsellers on several continents. He has won four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards, an Edgar Award, and many others. Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, and Edinburgh.
Quotes:
- I still think most writers are just kids who refuse to grow up. We’re still playing imaginary games, with our imaginary friends.
- I don’t have many friends. It’s not because I’m a misanthrope. It’s because I’m reserved. I’m self-contained. I get all my adventures in my head when I’m writing my books.
- I think writers have to be proactive: they’ve got to use new technology and social media. Yes, it’s hard to get noticed by traditional publishers, but there’s a great deal of opportunity out there if you’ve got the right story.
- I’ve always written. At the age of six or seven, I would get sheets of A4 paper and fold them in half, cut the edges to make a little eight-page booklet, break it up into squares and put in little stick men with little speech bubbles, and I’d have a spy story, a space story and a football story.
- A lot of writers, especially crime writers, have an image that we think we’re trying to keep up with. You’ve got to be seen as dark and slightly dangerous. But I’m not like that and I’ve realised that I don’t need to put that on. People will buy the books whether they see a photo of you dressed in black or not.
On Writing:
I can’t write a novel when I’m travelling, but I can revise or edit, send emails and resolve plot problems. I’m envious of writers who can work on their books when they’re travelling, but I need my home comforts and certitudes – coffee, music, biscuits. I need to be in my office. It’s where I get to play God.
I’ll start with coffee and the papers, then maybe move on to emails. But eventually I’ll knuckle down. I have an office of sorts in my house. There will be music on the hi-fi, and I’ll sit on the sofa (if mulling), or at one desk (if writing longhand notes) or the other (if typing on to my laptop). My writing computer isn’t exactly state of the art – it can’t even access the internet – but I’ve written my last seven or eight novels on it, and it seems to work fine.
10 Rules:
- Read lots.
- Write lots.
- Learn to be self-critical.
- Learn what criticism to accept.
- Be persistent.
- Have a story worth telling.
- Don’t give up.
- Know the market.
- Get lucky.
- Stay lucky.
Mary Wollstonecraft (b. April 27): “It is vain to expect virtue from women until they are independent of men.”
27 Apr
Mary Wollstonecraft, born 27 April 1759 and died 10 September 1797, was an eighteenth-century English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women’s rights. She wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children’s book. She is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Her daughter, Mary Shelley, wrote Frankenstein.
Five Quotes:
- The beginning is always today.
- Simplicity and sincerity generally go hand in hand, as both proceed from a love of truth.
- It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree independent of men.
- My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.
- It appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organised dust – ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or the spark goes out, which kept it together. Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable – and life is more than a dream.
Anita Loos (b. April 26): “I love high style in low company.”
26 Apr
Anita Loos (born 26 April 1889, died 18 August 1981) was an American screenwriter, playwright and author, best known for her blockbuster comic novel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Nine Quotes:
- Fate keeps on happening.
- Memory is more indelible than ink.
- I’ve always loved high style in low company.
- It isn’t that gentlemen really prefer blondes, it’s just that we look dumber.
- A kiss on the hand may feel very, very good, but a diamond and sapphire bracelet lasts forever.
- On a plane you can pick up more and better people than on any other public conveyance since the stagecoach.
- The rarest of all things in American life is charm. We spend billions every year manufacturing fake charm that goes under the heading of public relations. Without it, America would be grim indeed.
- There is a serious defect in the thinking of someone who wants – more than anything else – to become rich. As long as they don’t have the money, it’ll seem like a worthwhile goal. Once they do, they’ll understand how important other things are – and have always been.
- I can never take for granted the euphoria produced by a cup of coffee. I’m grateful every day that it isn’t banned as a drug, that I don’t have to buy it from a pusher, that its cost is minimal and there’s no need to increase the intake. I can count on its stimulation 365 mornings every year. And thanks to the magic in a cup of coffee, I’m able to plunge into a whole day’s cheerful thinking.
Sue Grafton (b. April 24): “Ideas are easy. It’s their execution that separates the sheep from the goats.”
24 Apr
Sue Grafton, born 24th April 1940, is an American crime writer. She is best known as the author of the ‘alphabet series’, starting with “A” Is for Alibi. The books feature private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. Grafton is the daughter of detective novelist C. W. Grafton. She wrote screenplays for television movies before she became a novelist.
Quotes on writing:
- Ideas are easy. It’s the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats.
- I focus on the writing and let the rest of the process take care of itself. I’ve learned to trust my own instincts and I’ve also learned to take risks.
- I write letters to my right brain all the time. They’re just little notes. And right brain, who likes to get little notes from me, will often come through within a day or two.
- We all need to look into the dark side of our nature – that’s where the energy is, the passion. People are afraid of that because it holds pieces of us we’re busy denying.
- I started writing seriously when I was 18, wrote my first novel when I was 22, and I’ve never stopped writing since. Of the first seven novels I wrote, numbers four and five were published. Numbers one, two, three, six, and seven, have never seen the light of day…and rightly so. The eighth novel I wrote was ‘A’ IS FOR ALIBI.
- I’m a writer by default. I think it is in my blood and in my bones. As I was growing up, women could be secretaries, nurses, ballerinas or airline stewardesses and I’m squeamish so there went my nursing career. I started writing early in my life as a way of surviving and my way of processing rage, grief and confusion. Now it is just what I do because I love it.
- I think with the mystery novel you have to know where you’re going, but not in any great detailed sense. I generally know whodunit, who died, and what the motive for the crime was. Then I have to figure out what I call the angle of attack. In other words, how do you cut into the story? Where does the story begin? What’s relevant in that first line or paragraph from the reader’s point of view? And I have to figure out who hires Kinsey Millhone, and what she’s hired to do.
- For one thing the mystery novel is a very elegant, delicate, highly structured form. You need to know how to plot, how to structure a story, you need to understand how to make a character work. People who start writing and think they can start with the mystery novel are often defeated before they put that first word on the page. So my advice is to learn your craft with mainstream fiction, where you’re not as stringently challenged and then come to the mystery when you’ve acquired some of the proficiencies that you need.
- I’m usually at my desk by 8:30 or 9:00. I like a tidy office because I find messes distracting. Being disorganized wastes time. I keep journals for every novel I write, and I start my workday by logging in, talking to myself about where I am in a novel and how I feel. I focus on the scene or story moves coming up. I worry about pacing and suspense. I revise. I stop sometimes and consult my research library, which is packed with books about crime and law enforcement. If I’m stuck, I call on the small army of experts who assist with each book. I break for a brief lunch and then work another couple of hours. Most days, I walk three to five miles when I’ve finished writing. I need the stress relief and fresh air.
James Franco (b. April 19): “You want to be interesting? Be interested.”
19 Apr
James Franco (born 19 April 1978) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, teacher, author and poet. His books include Palo Alto, Actors Anonymous: A Novel, and A California Childhood. Franco has also written, directed and starred in several short plays, two of which — Fool’s Gold and The Ape — he adapted into feature-length films. He wrote and directed the film Good Time Max.
Quotes:
- You want to be interesting? Be interested.
- They say living well is the best revenge but sometimes writing well is even better.
- Sometimes it’s painful to be oneself; at other times it seems impossible to escape oneself.
- Always have one artistic thing that is pure, at least one thing, where you don’t compromise. You can do other things to make money, but have one pure area.
- Make your characters interested in something. Striving for something. In need of something. Good at something. This will make them likeable and interesting.
- You also need love. Your characters need to love something, otherwise they will be unlovable.
- I’m a huge Cormac McCarthy fan and have read every book of his.
Alexandra Adornetto (b. April 18): “The crucial factor is the opening sentence.”
18 Apr
Alexandra Adornetto, born 18 April 1993, is an Australian author who writes for children and young adults. Her works include The Strangest Adventures series, the Halo trilogy and The Ghost House Saga.
Quotes on writing:
- It’s a tough industry, but don’t be put off. I believe if you want something badly enough and you’re willing to work at it, then you’ll succeed.
- I do chapter breakdowns so I know vaguely what’s going to happen in each one. All I need to know is the basic outline of what’s going to happen and the story tends to write itself.
- The best advice I can give [aspiring writers] is to believe in their work. I think that’s the key as well as being receptive to criticism and feedback. That’s the only way to really develop your skills as a writer.
- When you open a book and take a first hesitant glance at the page before you, the crucial factor that determines whether to continue reading or disregard the book in disappointment is the opening sentence.
- I was not too impressed with human language; it seemed absurdly limited. There was so much that couldn’t be put into words. That was one of the saddest things about people – their most important thoughts and feelings often went unspoken.
Kingsley Amis (b. April 16): “If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing.”
16 Apr
Kingsley Amis (born 16 April 1922, died 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, and social and literary criticism. He was the father of English novelist Martin Amis.
Quotes:
- If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing.
- No wonder people are so horrible when they start life as children.
- The novelist always has favorites, and often he’s a minor character.
- Laziness has become the chief characteristic of journalism, displacing incompetence.
- It is natural and harmless in English to use a preposition to end a sentence with.
- Writing for me is to a large extent self-entertainment, and an only child is driven to do that.
- No writer, especially a young and unknown writer, resents publicity of any kind – whatever he may say.
- You can’t imagine how much I miss the intellectual stimulus of teaching English literature to young people. More than I ever realized – I do miss it.
- I don’t get up very early. I linger over breakfast reading the papers, telling myself hypocritically that I’ve got to keep up with what’s going on, but really staving off the dreadful time when I have to go to the typewriter. Then I go on until about eight-thirty PM and I always hate stopping.
- I’ve been trying to write for as long as I can remember. But those first 15 years didn’t produce much of great interest. I mean, it embarrasses me very much to look back on my early poems – very few lines of any merit at all and lots of affectation. But there were quite a lot of them. That’s a point in one’s favor.
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