Why, for example, do the great writers use anticipation instead of surprise? Because surprise is merely an instrument of the unusual, whereas anticipation of a consequence enlarges our understanding of what is happening. --Roger Rosenblatt, "How to Write Great", New York Times, July 29, 2012 Image: Around the corner © Bruce Krasting with CCLicense
writing
Quote for Today: Marie Rutkoski
Why would one ever be so insane as to ditch a perfectly beautiful metaphor? Cut back, of course, prune if you like, so that the best metaphors are clear and sparkling. But I will throw out unread the book that promises me no metaphors inside. --Marie Rutkoski Public Domain Image via Pixabay
Quote for Today: Philip Roth
I needed my life as a springboard for my fiction. I have to have something solid under my feet when I write. I'm not a fantasist. I bounce up and down on the diving board, and I go into the water of fiction. But I've got to begin in life so I can pump life … Continue reading Quote for Today: Philip Roth
Quote for Today: Walter Farley
I believe that half the trouble in the world comes from people asking 'What have I achieved?' rather than 'What have I enjoyed?' I've been writing about a subject I love as long as I can remember--horses and the people associated with them, anyplace, anywhere, anytime. I couldn't be happier knowing that young people are … Continue reading Quote for Today: Walter Farley
Quote for Today: Augusten Burroughs
I want to write something that means something to someone...that reminds them of what a second, a moment, really is...or that assures them that we are just as lost as they are. I want to write an emotion they are too fragile to let loose, so that my words can do the expression for them, … Continue reading Quote for Today: Augusten Burroughs
Quote for Today: Sylvia Plath
But I must get back into the world of my creative mind: otherwise, in the world of pies & shin beef, I die. The great vampire cook extracts the nourishment & I grow fat on the corruption of matter, mere mindless matter. I must be lean & write & make worlds beside this to live … Continue reading Quote for Today: Sylvia Plath
Quote for Today: Suzanne Berne
We are known, appreciated, even cherished by our favorite writers; every word of our favorite books seems to have been written for us. Within their sentences and paragraphs, those writers are forever available, forever patient, including us in their compassionate recognition of the impossible, exhausting complexity of being human (those “many thousand” selves), never ignoring … Continue reading Quote for Today: Suzanne Berne
