“A page of Addison or of
Irving will teach more of style than a whole manual of rules, whilst a story of
Poe’s will impress upon the mind a more vivid notion of powerful and correct
description and narration than will ten dry chapters of a bulky
textbook.” H. P. Lovecraft: Advice to Aspiring Writers (1920)
“To have a specific
style is to be poor in speech.” Herbert Spencer: The Philosophy of
Style, the Economy of Attention, and the Ideal Writer (1852)
“Writing is like going
to bed with a beautiful woman and afterwards she gets up, goes to her purse and
gives me a handful of money.” Charles Bukowski on Writing and His
Insane Daily Routine
“Composition is
for the most part an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which
the mind is dragged by necessity or resolution, and from which the attention is
every moment starting to more delightful amusements.” Samuel Johnson on
Writing and Creative Doggedness
“In the marginalia … we
talk only to ourselves; we therefore talk freshly — boldly — originally — with
abandonment — without conceit.” Edgar Allan Poe: The Joy of Marginalia
and What Handwriting Reveals about Character
“I want my stories to
move people … to feel some kind of reward from the writing.”Alice Munro’s
Nobel Prize Interview: Writing, Women, and the Rewards of Storytelling
“Talented writing
makes things happen in the reader’s mind — vividly, forcefully — that good
writing, which stops with clarity and logic, doesn’t.” Samuel Delany:
Good Writing vs. Talented Writing
“The only
environment the artist needs is whatever peace, whatever solitude, and whatever
pleasure he can get at not too high a cost.” William Faulkner: Writing,
the Purpose of Art, Working in a Brothel, and the Meaning of Life
