Frankisms

“Many famous writers were rejected—but they persevered and were successful. — Kirby Anderson, host of “Point of View” radio talk show”

writing

“Many writers don’t get their beginning until they’ve finished their first draft. — Laurie Alberts”

writing

“Many writers think they are through when they write the story. Actually, that’s when crafting the story begins. — Terry Burns”

writing

“Micro-tension is the moment-by-moment tension that keeps readers in a constant state of suspense over what will happen—not in story, but in the next few seconds. — Donald Maass”

writing

“More than anything that you can do to illustrate voice for your reader, the character’s attitude will differentiate one character from another. — Elizabeth George”

writing

“Most authors write in their own voices. Every book they write sounds exactly like every other book they write, and if you were to talk to the author, you would find that his books sound like he does. — Sherri Szeman”

writing

“Most commercial fiction readers decide to read or not read within the first dozen pages. — Terry Burns”

writing

“Most great writers are word sculptors. They move paragraphs around like chess pieces on a game board. — Joe Vitale”

writing

“Most of us read for entertainment. — Ramona Richards”

writing

“Most writers slough off the most important part of their trade — editing their stuff, honing it and honing it until it gets an edge like a bullfighter’s killing sword. — Ernest Hemingway”

writing

“Most writing focuses on the person who did the writing. What you want to do is focus on the interests of the person reading your words. — Joe Vitale”

writing

“My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way. — Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)”

writing

“My life is way too boring to write from personal experience. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“Never assume that because you’ve seen films in your genre you know it. This is like assuming you could compose a symphony because you have heard all nine of Beethoven’s — Robert McKee”

writing

“Never be afraid to dig into your character’s head and heart and pull up emotions and thoughts that are difficult to experience. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“Never include anything the audience can reasonably and easily assume has happened. — Robert McKee”

writing

“No man can be called friendless when he has God and the companionship of good books. — Elizabeth Barrett Browning”

writing

“No matter how e-books may change the industry, some things are not going to change. Fiction writers will still have to write great novels. — Donald Maass”

writing

“No matter how obscure your time frame, at least a few of your readers are going to be well versed in it. — Persia Woolley”

writing

“No matter what era you’re researching, you most likely will find someone, somewhere has set up some kind of reenactment. — Persia Woolley”

writing

“No matter what you are writing, write to one person and you’ll create a sense of friendliness that can’t be beat. — Joe Vitale”

writing

“No matter what you write, you risk being misinterpreted, so why not take that as an excuse to take some real risks, by writing without inhibition, as if no one will read your work, knowing that you can polish it and pull back some of the glaring flaws later? — Jill Dearman”

writing

“No one really knows what good writing is—they only know what it “ain’t.” — Terry Burns”

writing

“No one will ever accuse you of writing a fast-paced novel. — Elizabeth George”

writing

“No single device more quickly improves a piece of writing than the practice of planting a naysayer in the text. — Gerald Graff”

writing

“No steel can pierce the human heart so chillingly as a period at the right moment. — Isaac Babel (1894–1941), Guy de Maupassant”

writing

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. — Robert Frost”

writing

“Nobody in Isaiah’s time had to go to a dictionary or a handbook to find out what he was talking about. — Eugene Peterson, Author of The Message”

writing

“Nothing tells us more about characters than how they deal with their troubles. — Jerry Cleaver”

writing

“Now that you know the rules, you may break them. But if you decide to break rules, know why, and do so intelligently. — Sandra Glahn, editor in chief of Kindred Spirit magazine”

writing

“Observing what makes a good story and what triggers reactions is a key part of learning how to create those triggers in your own writing. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“On one side is the world as we believe it to be, on the other is reality as it actually is. In this gap is the nexus of story, the caldron that cooks our telling. Here the writer finds the most powerful, life-bending moments. — Robert McKee”

writing

“On your first pages, setting must be implied rather than described. — Cheryl St.John”

writing

“Once we have begun it, we continue reading a novel largely because we care about what happens to the characters. — Elizabeth George”

writing

“One good illustration is worth a thousand words. But one clear picture built up in the reader's mind by your words is worth a thousand drawings, for the reader colors that picture with his own imagination, which is more potent than all the brushes of all the world's artists. — Robert Collier”

writing

“One of the best ways to show emotion is to show it indirectly, to have a character deny the emotion when it is obvious to the reader that the emotion is there. — Ann Hood”

writing

“One of the secrets of publishing is to match your dress with your book cover. — Mary DeMuth”

writing

“One of the worst things about knowing a lot, or having access to a lot of information, is that we’re tempted to share it all. — Chip Heath”

writing

“One problem with delaying your start until the research is all done is that the research is never all done. — James Thom”

writing

“One way to practice focusing in is to choose something—anything—and write everything you can about it. — Susan K. Perry”

writing