# Writing Thought of the Week



## Dream Brother (Mar 27, 2008)

*Writing Thought of the Week*



> *One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.*
> 
> _~ Harold Pinter_




*Spoiler*: _Past Tips_ 






*Spoiler*: _One_ 





> *[*]Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
> 
> 
> [*]Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
> ...






*Spoiler*: _Three_ 





> *Don't quit your day job.*
> 
> ~ _Neil Gaiman_






*Spoiler*: _Four_ 





> *Never look at a reference book while doing a first draft.
> 
> You want to write a story? Fine. Put away your dictionary, your encyclopedias, your World Almanac, and your thesaurus. Better yet, throw your thesaurus into the wastebasket. The only things creepier than a thesaurus are those little paperbacks college students too lazy to read the assigned novels buy around exam time. Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. You think you might have misspelled a word? O.K, so here is your choice: either look it up in the dictionary, thereby making sure you have it right - and breaking your train of thought and the writer's trance in the bargain - or just spell it phonetically and correct it later. Why not? Did you think it was going to go somewhere? And if you need to know the largest city in Brazil and you find you don't have it in your head, why not write in Miami, or Cleveland? You can check it ... but later. When you sit down to write, write. Don't do anything else except go to the bathroom, and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off.
> 
> ...






*Spoiler*: _Five_ 





> *Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.
> 
> He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed - love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.
> 
> ...






*Spoiler*: _Six_ 





> *You never paint what you see or think you see. You paint with a thousand vibrations the blow that struck you.*
> 
> _~ Nicholas de Sta?l_






*Spoiler*: _Seven_ 





> *You never learn how to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing.*
> 
> _~ Gene Wolfe_






*Spoiler*: _Eight_ 





> *Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.*
> 
> _~ Anton Chekhov_






*Spoiler*: _Nine_ 





> *I’ll add my absolute best advice, and the only real secret I know about writing. Persevere. Every book is written one keystroke or penstroke at a time. There is no other way to do it, no short cut to take, and no magic to make your book write itself. I think a mistake many young writers make is that they decide they will sit down and write a book. I don’t think anyone can do that. Instead, think that today you will write a scene, or describe a character or an event. That makes the task possible, and as each day goes by and you add another piece, it is just like stringing beads on a thread. Soon you will have the completed story transferred from your mind to the page. *
> 
> _~ Robin Hobb_






*Spoiler*: _Ten_ 





> *A man is a fool not to put everything he has, at any given moment, into what he is creating. You're there now doing the thing on paper. You're not killing the goose, you're just producing an egg. So I don't worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It's a matter of just sitting down and working. I have never had the problem of a writing block. I've heard about it. I've felt reluctant to write on some days, for whole weeks, or sometimes even longer. I'd much rather go fishing, for example, or go sharpen pencils, or go swimming, or what not. But, later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, "Well, now it's writing time and now I'll write." There's no difference on paper between the two.*
> 
> _~ Frank Herbert_









​


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## Dream Brother (Mar 27, 2008)

*Writing Tip of the Week*

*Writing Thought of the Week*


*Spoiler*: _Past Tips Continued_ 





*Spoiler*: _Eleven_ 





> *The good writers touch life often.  The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her.  The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies.*
> 
> _~ Ray Bradbury_






*Spoiler*: _Twelve_ 





> *Style is diction; style is cadence; style is syntax; style is word choice and the spectrum of a writer’s vocabulary; style is length of sentences and the careful placement of different length sentences into a paragraph in the way a master stonemason would set stones into an unmortared wall meant to last for centuries; style is repetition and knowing when not to repeat; style is omission; style is misdirection and subliminal suggestion; style is specificity set into deliberate vagueness; style is crafty vagueness set amidst a forest of specificity; style is the motion of the mind at work; style is the pulse and heartbeat of the narrative sensibility; style is balance; style is the projective will of the writer creating a portal of access to the receptive will of the discerning reader; style is the sound our words make on paper.
> 
> Style is goddamned hard.*
> 
> _~ Dan Simmons_






*Spoiler*: _Thirteen_ 





> *A good style simply doesn’t form unless you absorb half a dozen top-flight authors every year. Or rather it forms but, instead of being a subconscious amalgam of all that you have admired, it is simply a reflection of the last writer you have read, a watered-down journalese.*
> 
> _~ F. Scott Fitzgerald_






*Spoiler*: _Fourteen_ 





> *The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug.*
> 
> _~ Mark Twain_






*Spoiler*: _Fifteen_ 





> *The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it.*
> 
> _~ Ernest Hemingway_






*Spoiler*: _Sixteen_ 





> *[*] Watt-Evans' First Law of Fantasy: Stories are about people.
> 
> 
> [*] Watt-Evans' Second Law of Fantasy: People are never wholly good or wholly evil, and therefore characters should never be wholly good or wholly evil.
> ...






*Spoiler*: _Eighteen_ 





> *Being a writer is a strenuous marriage between careful observation and just carefully imagining truths you haven't had the opportunity to see. The rest is the necessary strict toiling with language.*
> 
> _~ John Irving_






*Spoiler*: _Nineteen_ 





> *My technique with characters is to try to let each character be the main character in his own story. Even if someone is just a ‘walk on’, it helps to remember that maybe that barmaid is near the end of her shift and is really tired, and to let her behave accordingly. When I first started writing, I found it was very easy for me to fall into that trap where I made all of the characters do what they must to make the plot advance smoothly. I wound up with minor characters who existed only to take a bullet for the protagonist or to be the romantic prize to be won. Cardboard.
> 
> When the characters are not true to themselves, the story loses its veracity. If you can put on the skin of even your minor characters and say, "What would I really want to do next? Wouldn’t I duck when I saw the arrow coming?" the plot becomes more interesting and the characters are believable.*
> 
> _~ Robin Hobb_






*Spoiler*: _Twenty_ 





> *Writing a book is a labour of love. If it wasn’t then you would never get past the first chapter before you sickened of it and threw it in the bin. When you’re first starting out, you need a tremendous amount of faith in your own novel if you’re ever going to succeed in getting it published. I firmly believe that there must be unpublished novels out there that are phenomenally good but will never be published for the simple reason that their authors just aren’t determined/bloody-minded/stubborn/arrogant enough to withstand the ego-battering onslaught of rejection letters, and to send the book out again and again until it lands on the right desk of the right editor of the right publisher at the right time.
> 
> The ‘correct’ philosophy here is to say that everyone has their own opinions yadda, yadda, yadda, and not to be too disheartened because even if some people don’t like your book, others will. I accept this, in principle. But I also believe that not only must you have faith in your own work in order to succeed, but that you must love it practically to the point of being quite arrogant about it. There is no room for modesty here, my friends. If you don’t think your book is the best thing since sliced bread then how can you expect a publisher to? If you can’t be defiantly proud of your book even when it’s being rejected left, right and centre then you’ll be in danger of giving up at the first hurdle. There are countless examples of famous books (now considered masterpieces) being sent out time and time again before someone, somewhere recognised them for what they were. *
> 
> _~ Alex Bell_


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## Buskuv (Mar 27, 2008)

Oh, how I love Vonnegut.

I knew who wrote this after the first tip, and I agree wholeheartedly.


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## Tyrael (Mar 27, 2008)

The man has great wit obviously: I am still meaning to look up one of his books.

Is each tip gonna be chosen by you DB or...?


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## neko-sennin (Mar 27, 2008)

It's good advice. Now that I think about it, of the four short stories I've ever written, I can rank reader response almost directly in relation to those concepts, especially:



> Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
> 
> Every sentence must do one of two things?reveal character or advance the action.
> 
> Start as close to the end as possible.


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## Catterix (Mar 27, 2008)

Not bad.

It makes me feel quite glad really, as I'd learnt all this myself by the time I was 15, so I must be doing something right... ish.


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## Dream Brother (Mar 27, 2008)

Something important to note:

Apparently Vonnegut went on (in the book from which those tips are written in) to say that 'Flannery O'Connor broke all these rules except the first, and that great writers tend to do that'. At least, that's according to Wiki -- I can't personally verify it as I unfortunately don't have the book in question. It seems like fitting sentiments, though.



> Is each tip gonna be chosen by you DB or...?



I was going to sort out a nomination type deal, but I figured that there wouldn't be a great deal of interest from most people in submitting advice week after week. If you guys want to get a quote up here though, then by all means feel free to PM me suggestions and I'll put 'em up if they're good.


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## sel (Mar 27, 2008)

> should cockroaches eat the last few pages.



Or die of Tuberculosis midway through writing, bloody Kafka.

Nice thread mate


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (Mar 27, 2008)

I kind of have to disagree with the idea of giving all of the information possible right away, but that could be something that works better in only short stories so who knows.


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## Batman (Mar 27, 2008)

Cardboard Tube Knight said:


> I kind of have to disagree with the idea of giving all of the information possible right away, but that could be something that works better in only short stories so who knows.



I agree. I don't really see this as an absolute. It makes me wonder if I can take that quote at face value, or if theres a deeper/less direct meaning behind it. I would assume that in certain stories, there are things that you cannot reveal to the reader right off the bat, as well as there are details that would want to dangle just in front of their faces, or just out of the corner of their eye.


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (Mar 27, 2008)

Batman said:


> I agree. I don't really see this as an absolute. It makes me wonder if I can take that quote at face value, or if theres a deeper/less direct meaning behind it. I would assume that in certain stories, there are things that you cannot reveal to the reader right off the bat, as well as there are details that would want to dangle just in front of their faces, or just out of the corner of their eye.



Of course, I a holding back so much information, that even in my fourth story a lot is not know...

Of course, I am working in first person, so that has an effect.


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## Dream Brother (Mar 27, 2008)

Batman said:


> I agree. I don't really see this as an absolute. It makes me wonder if I can take that quote at face value, or if theres a deeper/less direct meaning behind it. I would assume that in certain stories, there are things that you cannot reveal to the reader right off the bat, as well as there are details that would want to dangle just in front of their faces, or just out of the corner of their eye.



I don't want anyone to think of this thread as depicting pieces of the 'gospel' of how to write from week to week, because there is no such thing. Tips can be highly useful, but they are _never_ set in stone.


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## Pintsize (Mar 27, 2008)

Rules of writing intimidate me, because writing is just something I try to do and improve.

Still, Vonnegut's got a great list, though he must not like mystery novels.


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## Batman (Mar 27, 2008)

I tell you what. I really like this 'rule'.



> Start as close to the end as possible.



It's not something I would have known how to phrase had I been thinking about it, but it is so spot on. People don't do this enough (me included). But if we can push and push and tighten it up as much as possible, everything seems more connected.

Yet on the other hand, this is also one of the easiest 'rules' to break. (Yet not successfully.)


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (Mar 28, 2008)

There are a lot of rules out there and most of the time those are just the rules that have worked for that author. Often times the rules contradict each other directly and other times the rules are very ridged and demanding (don't ever write flashbacks). I like to have them as guidelines but I love ignoring them and knowing that my story works regardless.


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## Dream Brother (Mar 31, 2008)

It hasn't been a full week, but there's a new tip up anyway, mainly because the first one was posted at an awkward time, and I want to get on a 'cleaner' schedule by posting one every Monday. Just in case people didn't see the last one, I've kept it in spoiler tags at the bottom of the post.

Once again, feel free to PM me tips for me to stick up here -- I've only had one suggestion so far.


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## Dream Brother (Apr 6, 2008)

Updated again.

This one is courtesy of Tyrael.


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## Dream Brother (Apr 14, 2008)

Update time again, whee.

This time the tips come courtesy of Batman.


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (Apr 14, 2008)

I like that lastp art about disregarding what they all say. I have had moments when someone criticizes me and I know that I need to fix the problem because I kind of saw it too. But I have had those times where there is that one person who is riding you about something you just know they're wrong. Happened with me at work, this guy was telling me that something I had no place in a story and that it was a bad plot all around. But when I saw how biased his views were, basically biased because I wrote it and that was it, I just ignored it.


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## Morwain (Apr 21, 2008)

Criticsim can be rather stupid at times if coming from a bad source but, if coming from a good source someone who will not be biased or be too kind to you the criticism can make all the difference in improving your work whether you wish to admit it or not...


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## Dream Brother (Apr 22, 2008)

Eek, thanks for reminding me, accidental or not...

A day late, but update time.


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## sel (Apr 22, 2008)

Where do you come across these? They're wonderful mate.


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## Batman (Apr 22, 2008)

I really like that tip. Its very . . . heartfelt? For lack of a better word.


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## Dream Brother (Apr 22, 2008)

Pancho Villa said:


> Where do you come across these? They're wonderful mate.



Why thankee, I randomly stumbled across this 'un while browsing George R.R Martin's site -- he quoted a sentence from the speech, and so I, being curious, went and dug the full speech up. I quite like it too, although I haven't read any of Faulkner's actual prose yet unfortunately.


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## Banhammer (Apr 26, 2008)

Neil Gaiman made me smile


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## Dream Brother (Apr 28, 2008)

Update time.

This quote was, of course, made with painting in mind -- but I've always thought of prose as painting with words.

Please remember that anyone is free to PM their own quote suggestions to me.


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## Dream Brother (May 6, 2008)

Update time again, whee!

Thank Tyrael for finding the quote this week.


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## Bisuke (May 6, 2008)

I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread~!

>>

English isn't my native lingo so I'm having a hard time writing stories in English, but this thread is a good fountain for inspiration and insights.

And perhaps tips?

Thank you thread starter~


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## Tyrael (May 6, 2008)

I don't envy the job of trying to find one of these each week. If it was me I'd be tempted to make stuff up and find a real obscure author and tack their name on.


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## Dream Brother (May 11, 2008)

It's that time again, folks...update.



> Thank you thread starter~



You're welcome, and g'luck with your stories.



> I don't envy the job of trying to find one of these each week. If it was me I'd be tempted to make stuff up and find a real obscure author and tack their name on.



Hahah, now I'm getting ideas...


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (May 11, 2008)

I like this one alot, it really stands out.


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## Batman (May 12, 2008)

Cardboard Tube Knight said:


> I like this one alot, it really stands out.



/seconded. That's how I feel most of the time. I get into arguments with one of my readers b/c she believes the exact opposite so damn rigidly. 

But to me, this is the difference between writing and writing it down.


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## Michi (May 14, 2008)

Really great tips, definitely something I'll go back to.


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## Dream Brother (May 18, 2008)

Cardboard Tube Knight said:


> I like this one alot, it really stands out.





> /seconded. That's how I feel most of the time. I get into arguments with one of my readers b/c she believes the exact opposite so damn rigidly.
> 
> But to me, this is the difference between writing and writing it down.



Aye, it's a quote that perfectly encapsulates what I believe to be a hallmark of the best writing. I'm always careful to keep it in mind.



> Really great tips, definitely something I'll go back to.



Cheers, feel free to suggest one for me to put up here too (via PM) as that's always more than welcome.

Anyway, update time falls upon us once more, people. Hobb is great, in my opinion.


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## sel (May 24, 2008)

I don't remember where I heard this or whom I heard it from, though the advice that is most embodied in all my writings out of all of them is the following.

_If you can piss you can write._

As you can tell, that's all there is to how I go about it.


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## Dream Brother (May 26, 2008)

Update again -- thank Tyrael for this one.


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## Dream Brother (Jun 3, 2008)

Better late than never, right?

Update time.


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## sel (Jun 3, 2008)

Rape her and leave her for the flies. Classic XD


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## Dream Brother (Jun 9, 2008)

Pancho Villa said:


> Rape her and leave her for the flies. Classic XD



Bradbury <3 

One hell of a writer.

Oh, update cometh.


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## sel (Jun 9, 2008)

> style is repetition and knowing when not to repeat



Haha.

This is up there in one of my favourite tips.

edit: Not read Bradbury but he has been recommended to me a fair few times..


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## Mori` (Jun 9, 2008)

> Style is goddamned hard.



tis painfully true!


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## Dream Brother (Jun 16, 2008)

Well, I'm late again. Big surprise, I'm sure.

This latest quote is from another one of my favourite authors -- _The Great Gatsby_ is easily one of the most masterful novels I've ever read.


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## Tyrael (Jun 18, 2008)

Not sure I quite understand this-is it read more, read less or plagiarise as much as you want, lol?


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## Dream Brother (Jun 19, 2008)

Haha, I took it to mean -- at essence -- simply that one must read quality fiction regularly in order to produce a 'good' style, or rather, to unlock the _full potential_ of your personal style. In the most basic terms, it's just highlighting the critical nature of reading in your development as a writer. If you read constantly, you unconsciously and consciously absorb a _lot_, and much of that ends up forming keystones of your own style and adding to your own natural inclinations like a perfect brew, but if you read very little then what you write inevitably only comes out as a diluted, artificial version of what you _last_ read -- it's more in the line of mimicry than actual style, because your style hasn't actually had a chance to truly develop and thus can't 'spread its wings' on paper, so to speak. Without a fully developed style, the mind instinctively falls back on mimicking the last piece of fiction you read, and only time and effort can surpass that basic reflex. It's just essentially pointing out the idea that writers must read just as much as they write.

That's how I interpreted it anyway, I dunno how far that actually coincides with Fitzgerald's actual intent behind his advice.


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## graysocks (Jun 19, 2008)

Yeah i seen it as you must immerse yourself within quality to develop it, allow your writing to grow, or it will be a shallow and small imitation of what little you know. Great author too.


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## Dream Brother (Jun 23, 2008)

Updateeeee.

I'm going to have to stop archiving the 'past tips' from this day onward, as I've hit the word limit in the opening post, doh.


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## sel (Jun 23, 2008)

Can't you get a smod to insert a post inbetween your's and the second post? That way you can use the second post for old tips


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## Mori` (Jun 23, 2008)

^ and as if by magic...


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## Dream Brother (Jun 23, 2008)

Ammanas said:


> ^ and as if by magic...



You're a true Gentleman Bastard <3.


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## sel (Jun 23, 2008)

> DB is my homeboy.



Damn straight.


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## catthex (Jun 27, 2008)

That's some quantum shit man...
Excellent.


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## Major (Jun 28, 2008)

Awesome thread, can't believe I haven't actually looked in here before.


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## Dream Brother (Jul 1, 2008)

Doo da dee...


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## graysocks (Jul 1, 2008)

haha Hemingway bold and straight to the point, loving it!


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## Dream Brother (Jul 10, 2008)

Apologies for missing this week; the past weekend was..er..eventful, and this week has been a tad hectic too.

Anyway, got a new one up.


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## Dream Brother (Jul 27, 2008)

I've been horribly lax with this -- part of that is due to my utterly shattering house move issue, but now I'm hoping to settle down and get the activity back to normal again. 

Another Lynch quote for this week. I definitely agree with him, and you can see how well he takes his own advice by observing pretty much any segment of his debut work, _The Lies of Locke Lamora_, because it's _highly_ difficult to find anything superfluous or dull there.

I really wish someone could have shown Erikson this piece of advice before he wrote _Gardens of the Moon_.


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## Pan-on (Jul 27, 2008)

great quote, love the last line.


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## Dream Brother (Aug 4, 2008)

La la la...

I found this one when I was reading articles on a site that Anonx posted for us -- it's , for anyone curious. The article also interprets this week's quote in detail, and has a further two parts (for elaboration) that can both be found linked on that page.


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## Pan-on (Aug 4, 2008)

you know whats funny, thats the only one i didnt read(besides the one with the broken link), must have skipped past it by accident.

like the quote too.


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## Tyrael (Sep 1, 2008)

DB, you need to plug the life support back in on this particular gimmick.


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## Dream Brother (Sep 2, 2008)

True, that.

I'll hunt around for a good quote, hmm.


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (May 1, 2009)

Ah, Tyrael just reminded me of this thread. This really needs to be brought back!


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## The Space Cowboy (May 1, 2009)

Writing Tip of the Century:  Read More


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (May 1, 2009)

That's pretty much a given, I need to read more of the stuff like I plan to write. I just kind of stopped reading after I finished my last book a while back. But I really loved that book.


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## graysocks (May 9, 2009)

What happened to this! Used to be stickied, and weekly.


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## Porcelain (May 9, 2009)

theriotically speaking- if scientists said that they could prove anything, do anything, and be anything, would u beleive it?


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## Dream Brother (Aug 25, 2009)

/rezzeddddd

- New quote

- New title. I kinda prefer this one, as it leaves things more open, but lemme know if you disagree.

- Considering changing the weekly rate -- to be completely realistic, it ain't gonna fly for long as it is. Too easy to run out of genuinely good quotes when you have such a short time span.


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (Aug 25, 2009)

The quote by Hobb is actually really good and its something that more young writers need to hear. I see far too many decent stories where the characters basically move forward through the story just seeking to advance the plot.

While the plot might be important to the more central group...but when it comes to minor people its hard to make them all do just that and still look like real people. 

Believable behavior is something that goes a long way in characters. Its why so many people scoff at the people in horror movies and laugh when they make the same mistakes that movie writers think will create suspense, instead of writing a character who reacts realistically, intelligently and accordingly.


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## Kabomacho (Sep 7, 2009)

Cardboard Tube Knight said:


> Believable behavior is something that goes a long way in characters. Its why so many people scoff at the people in horror movies and laugh when they make the same mistakes that movie writers think will create suspense, instead of writing a character who reacts realistically, intelligently and accordingly.



So very true.


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## LunaNightingale (Sep 8, 2009)

This quote is written very intelligent and many are moved by his writings especially this quote...I am myself. Stories should be written so the characters to move forward as well as the readers advancing to a more interesting plot or event in the storyline. Not all charcters get that pleasure to get in all the plots and move along with the story in some ways...short stories maybe, but a lot are not the case.

I think if the character is written with more creativity or just plain interesting for us readers than the story(s) can turn out great whether it is a bad or good ending. I had a lot of thought given to that quote and have a literature class with some boring stories that did not have an creative plot, but some stories do. This can be applied to any story someone writes are read. Basically, if the story does not have an interesting plot than the reader will not finished. Opinions varies on the reader.


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## Dream Brother (Sep 18, 2009)

Updated, thank Ty for discovering this one. Link to the full article is right here. It's worth reading for the stuff that I had to exclude (due to length) especially the point about counterbalancing the arrogance with humility.


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## Catags (Nov 5, 2009)

Thank you very much for these quotes! 
*nom nom nom*


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## Mαri (Nov 10, 2009)

Write what you know  .


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## olla86 (Nov 18, 2009)

Thanks for such good article, Dream Brother. excellent quotes!


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## Tyrael (Jan 7, 2010)

Glen Cook said:
			
		

> Advice to the young writer. Write. Don't talk about writing. Or about fixing to commence to begin to get ready to start writing. Do it. Then keep on doing it. Then do it some more. Learning to write is like learning to throw a curveball. You got to pick up the ball and throw it before you do anything else.



He talks sense.


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## cheshire cat (Mar 13, 2010)

> "I met, not long ago, a young man who aspired to become a novelist. Knowing that I was in the profession, he asked me to tell him how he should set to work to realize his ambition. I did my best to explain. 'The first thing,' I said, 'is to buy quite a lot of paper, a bottle of ink, and a pen. After that you merely have to write.' "



- Aldous Huxley.


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## jux (Apr 6, 2010)

there's something really beautiful about big and grand


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## Deer_Hunter_ (Apr 15, 2010)

The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments:

Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts.

Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.

Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no "authorities").

Spin more than one hypothesis - don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.

Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours.

Quantify, wherever possible.

If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work.

Occam's razor - if there are two hypotheses that explain the data equally well choose the simpler.

Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified (shown to be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, it is testable? Can others duplicate the experiment and get the same result? 

By Carl Sagan  in the Demon Haunted World.


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## Vanthebaron (Apr 22, 2010)

I got one...listen to music that influnces you


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## Dream Brother (May 20, 2010)

Updated...Pinter is cool.


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## Bunnet de Luz XXI (Sep 2, 2010)

We could add that the best way to write a book is formed by 4 simply laws no guidelines, write these and you have yourself an magnum opus, what are this four laws? Sadly no one knows not a soul but that what new writers exist to dedicate themselves to the unlimited fictions to see these invisible laws.

Clearly anything I say has absolutely no power compare to Mr. Vonnegut words


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## cheshire cat (Dec 24, 2010)

> Writers especially poets, are patricularly prone to madness. There exists a striking association between creativity and manic depression. Why are more creative people prone to madnes? They have more than average amounts of energies and abilities to see things in a fresh and original way - then because they also have depression, I think they're more in touch with human suffering.



**


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## jux (Feb 3, 2011)

In retrospect the mind conjures the best of moments and frames it in the most idealized way possible. Every corner, every angle, every second becomes pure liquid gold, precious in its very essence and unforgettable. It is the Mona Lisa for the mind and Mozart for the heart; captured to be paused, played, rewinded and fastforwarded for all intents of admiration, introspection and being reminded of that warmth you no longer have.


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## Eternity (Jun 6, 2011)

Lovely thread.


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## conorgenov (Nov 27, 2011)

"It's not the size of the boat, but the motion of the ocean."

Like make sure your story flows right before throwing ideas at it all wlly-nilly.


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## Raiden (Nov 27, 2011)

most of my posts are ambiguous and repetitive.


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## Gevin Q (Jan 9, 2012)

I'm pleased to read those many opinions each writer has to there own accord about the ideals of writing.  With many strings to an instrument that gives an difference of sound.  From every low inaudible tone to a pitch that may seem soft and insignificant.  But, together a chorus of high praise to hear all in harmony once understood by a reader.  

It's of course to know how easily it is to create a sentence with little bearing to others who read it.  Thus, in contrast to what writers are trying to portray and embark in their work.  That it's little what the complex grammar a sentence has, but those little bits of reality slowly pulled apart by words.  

And words only understood by one who can weave it like an art for a sake only the writer knows.  As each way the sentence isn't a drone void and filled with each piece a blank world.  Where one's words as simple it appears.  Together formed by the driven spirit of emotion and control, becomes what grasps a reader. 

There in all, as myself an aspiring writer.  It was a very long process to get that revelation of my own writing.  With the greater understanding to not be overrating or underrating any words when writing.  As long as I can get that correct response to myself that my work is alive.  Speaking upon the reader in another world with it's foreign voice bring them in.  

So to be in conclusion, I'm grateful to have read the thread for it's reference to those experienced writers.  And for their ideals upon it's process that I can very well agree.


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## jux (Jan 16, 2012)

There is something poetic about a child drawing on the cracked, dirty and dilapidated footpaths in chalk. In the desolate she finds a canvas for her nonsense imagination and inspires something truly spectacular.


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## Wuzzman (Aug 3, 2012)

To me writing is a lot like bleeding. I think good writers put themselves in the story or poem so much that it leaves their DNA behind. Reading becomes like a blood transfusion between like minds, or alien ones.


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## wjames260 (Oct 10, 2012)

A teacher once told me "If it twists your stomach, keep writing."


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## emili (Dec 15, 2012)

When I write, I usually think about how can I make the readers smile

Reactions: Like 1


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## Stripes (Jan 6, 2013)

wjames260 said:


> A teacher once told me "If it twists your stomach, keep writing."



Sound advice, that's usually when I know I'm progressing on a story.


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## Krory (Jan 6, 2013)

Although it might not be practical to some people, when it gets difficult trying to balance the desire to become a _successful_ writer even if it means sacrificing what you want to accomplish as a writer, I often like to look to a quote from .



			
				Cyril Connolly said:
			
		

> Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.


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## Nimueh (Apr 11, 2013)

I found this quote on someone’s Fanfiction.net profile a long time ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since. I know now where it’s from, although I haven’t yet read the book for the quote’s context. But I love it as a writing thought and wanted to share it here:

_“You wish to see the distant realms? Very well. But know this first: The places you will visit, the places that you will see, do not exist. For there are only two worlds ― your world, which is the real world, and other worlds, the fantasy. Worlds like this are worlds of the human imagination: Their reality, or lack of reality, is not important. What is important is that they are there. These words provide an alternative. Provide an escape. Provide a threat. Provide a dream, and power. Provide refuge, and pain. They give your world meaning. They do not exist; and thus they are all that matters. Do you understand?”_ *― Titania, The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman*


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## Spock (Sep 21, 2013)

_"They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented."_

-Karl Marx, _The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte _


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## ЯƎWO⅃ᖷ (Feb 16, 2015)

“I do not know what makes a writer, but it probably isn't happiness.” 

― William Saroyan, The Bicycle Rider In Beverly Hills


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## The Pirate on Wheels (Mar 14, 2015)

"Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery."
Mansfield Park (1814)

This sums up how I feel about writing.


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## ЯƎWO⅃ᖷ (May 18, 2015)

The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.

― Stephen King

Reactions: Winner 1


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## mcpon14 (Nov 19, 2017)

Put one word after another, lol.

Reactions: Creative 1


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