Frankisms

“[I’m looking for] distinctive voices, ambitious concepts, and memorable characters. — Mark Tavani, executive director at Ballantine Books”

writing

““Setup” is, by definition, not story. It always drags. Always. Leave it out. Find another way. — Donald Maass”

writing

“A bad ending can spoil an otherwise good piece of writing. The ending deserves as much attention as does any other part of your composition. — Winston Weathers”

writing

“A big part of your job is to continually find more people to meet. — Bob Burg”

writing

“A book is the only immortality. — Rufus Choate”

writing

“A breakout novel rattles, confronts, and illuminates. It is detailed because it is real. — Donald Maass”

writing

“A character must make a sacrifice in order to be truly heroic and show growth. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“A character’s inner conflict will show that he is real. — Elizabeth George”

writing

“A college degree alone does not prepare you to be a writer. — Dennis Hensley”

writing

“A common mistake is to glance at a dictionary or stylebook entry without noting which part of speech is being described. Many times, we have one word as an adjective, two words as a noun. — Bill Walsh”

writing

“A drop of ink may make a million think. — Lord Byron”

writing

“A flashback should be broken up and sprinkled through a scene the way it might naturally come into a character’s mind. — Jerry Cleaver”

writing

“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. — G. K. Chesteron”

writing

“A good writer is a trained observer, a person whose senses are always alert to the sights, sounds, smells, feelings, and tastes of the surrounding world. — Dawn B. Sova”

writing

“A great many fine stories have been lost with the ring of the alarm clock. — Judith Barrington”

writing

“A great story has been, and always will be, about a character facing conflict and the suspense of not knowing what's going to happen next. — James Scott Bell”

writing

“A great story will always have its roots in this elemental question of life and death. — Dara Marks”

writing

“A great storyteller leaves us in suspense right up to the final moments. — Donald Maass”

writing

“A heroine being chased by a bad guy won’t take time to admire the china pattern in a cabinet or notice a stack of books unless the china is broken or she trips over the books. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“A house is just a house until it is occupied by people with problems. — Donald Maass”

writing

“A little trick that may help you get back to a project you don’t feel like doing is to give yourself permission to write something else—anything you want. — Susan K. Perry”

writing

“A merely good piece of description can be transformed into a memorable one by cutting away what disguises it. — Theodore A. Rees Cheney”

writing

“A name should reflect the personality of the character, sound natural, and also be memorable. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“A piece of fiction needs forward motion, and for that you’ll need to build pressure. — Carole Bugge”

writing

“A premise is any single image, moment, feeling, or belief that has enough power and personal meaning for the author to set her story on fire. — Donald Maass”

writing

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit. — Jerry Cleaver”

writing

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit. — Richard Bach”

writing

“A room without books is like a body without a soul. — Cicero”

writing

“A scene is a story in miniature—an action through conflict in a unity or continuity of time and space that turns the value-charged condition of a character’s life. — Robert McKee”

writing

“A secular writer has to sell thousands of books to be a success. If a Christian writer sold only one copy, but it changed someone’s life, he would be a success. — Terry Burns”

writing

“A series of short sentences and/or fragments in quick succession can convey urgency and danger. — Joyce Ellis”

writing

“A statement is quotable when it is extraordinary or wrong, when it comes from an authority, or when it expresses an idea so well you could not say it better. — Robert Pinkert”

writing

“A story doesn’t begin at the beginning; it begins in opposition to the ending. — Dara Marks”

writing

“A story is powerful because it provides the context missing from abstract prose. — Chip Heath”

writing

“A strong story has only one plot. Therefore, a strong story has only one protagonist. — Dara Marks”

writing

“A synopsis must focus on why the character is doing what he’s doing. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“A wise writer shows enough setting for the reader to envision the story world—and no more. — DiAnn Mills”

writing

“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. — George Kennedy”

writing

“A writer ought to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. — Mark Twain”

writing

“A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist. — Vladimir Nabokov”

writing