Frankisms

“I try to leave out the parts people skip. — Elmore Leonard, novelist”

writing

“I want a film that begins with an earthquake and works up to a climax. — Samuel Goldwyn”

writing

“I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help—and God’s. — Lyndon B. Johnson, on arriving in Washington DC on the evening of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, November 22, 1963”

writing

“I wish the church would ordain writers the way they ordain pastors and professors. Give some dignity to this work of the imagination. — Eugene Peterson, Author of The Message”

writing

“I write many, many drafts—never fewer than 20—and some scenes will be rewritten more than 50 times. Near the end, I’ll go through a whole draft just concentrating on one character and his or her life in time. — Mona Simpson”

writing

“I write out of hurt and how to make hurt okay. — Natalie Goldberg”

writing

“I wrote a million words a year, much of it awful, and I was not published for years. — Michael Crichton”

writing

“I’m always looking for great writing that is original, confident, and convincing, whether it’s in the form of a memoir, novel, short-story collection, or reported nonfiction book. — Megan Lynch, senior editor at Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin.”

writing

“Ideally, every scene becomes a Turning Point in which the values at stake swing from the positive to the negative or the negative to the positive, creating significant but minor change in their lives. — Robert McKee”

writing

“Ideas area dime a dozen. Published, successful books are rare. It takes work, real work. — Dennis Hensley”

writing

“If a book flows correctly, the reader should not be able to find convenient places to put it down. — Terry Burns”

writing

“If a character in a scene is just taking up space, give him an agenda or get him out of there. — James Scott Bell”

writing

“If a novelist is doing her job, no matter what kind of novel she’s writing, it contains suspense because it contains characters readers care about. — Elizabeth George”

writing

“If a plot is essentially believable—even if it’s something as imaginative and improbable as cloning dinosaurs—then the reader will stick with the story through that little click in the brain called suspension of disbelief. — Elizabeth George”

writing

“If a situation looks impossible, it’s a pretty good bet that the conflict will be strong. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“If a stranger were nearby, would he try to eavesdrop on the conversation? If the answer is no, don’t use the dialogue. — Gary Provost”

writing

“If God is at work in the world of your novel, then you have a chance at giving your readers an experience that is humbling, joyful, and maybe even transforming. — Donald Maass”

writing

“If I am to write so others will hear, I must first listen. — Verdell Krisher, author and Christian school director”

writing

“If I tell you that the sink is filled with food-crusted plates, crawling with cockroaches, I don’t need to tell you much else about the room, do I? — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“If I write something, I find some place for it to go. — Terry Burns”

writing

“If it isn’t moving you, it isn’t going to move your readers. — Tim Shoemaker”

writing

“If my story is stuck, I have to get to know my characters better. — Kim Messer”

writing

“If only one line in the poem has energy, then cut the rest out and leave only that one line. — William Carlos Williams”

writing

“If the conflict isn’t emotional for the character, it won’t be emotional for the reader. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“If the reader doesn’t care about your story people, he’ll never make it past the opening scene or the first chapters. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“If the scene does little in terms of heightening the complications or furthering the plot or themes, consider summarizing instead — Laurie Alberts”

writing

“If there’s no conflict, there’s no story. … In order for the conflict to matter, we have to care. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“If we can’t say it, we probably don’t know it. Once our desires are written they have a life of their own. — Thomas Harris”

writing

“If we hide from emotion, we get flat characters. — Ann Hood”

writing

“If you are a writer when writing, you also are a writer when you are cooking, sleeping, walking. — Natalie Goldberg”

writing

“If you can learn to hear the cadences of speech, the rises and falls of your voice, you can skip most of the rules and punctuate by sound. — Robert Pinkert”

writing

“If you care about being thought credible and intelligent, do not use complex language where simpler language will do. — Daniel Kahneman”

writing

“If you do not see a transformation in your own life as you write, then you have failed. — DiAnn Mills”

writing

“If you don’t know the basic structure of your storyline, you’re not really ready to start writing. — Syd Field”

writing

“If you find you’re not having fun with what your writing, don’t say, “This is not fun,” but rather ask yourself, “How can I make it fun?” — Susan K. Perry”

writing

“If you find yourself at a loss for what to write next, find a way to make things worse. — Steven James”

writing

“If you find yourself having trouble getting into a story you want to tell, it is always a good idea to get up very close and start using your senses. — Judith Barrington”

writing

“If you give your hero a weakness, you can use that to make his life more difficult. — Carole Bugge”

writing

“If you give your reader too many characters to care about, your readers may wind up not caring much about any of them. — Donald Maass”

writing

“If you must use a flashback, don’t do it in the first 50 pages of your book. — Jeff Gerke”

writing