Carrie is a bit burnt out this week so we decided to take a fast look at the advice and quotes that writers give to each other.
Quote #1
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
—Stephen King
Mr. King has strong feelings about adverbs. He has strong feelings about a lot of things. Just because a successful man has strong feelings about things doesn’t mean he’s correct.
Quote #2
“Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces.”
—Allegra Goodman
This is just here because it has the word ‘fetish’ in it, but the truth of it is pretty obvious. Don’t write because you want to be John Steinbeck or God or Toni Morrison. Write because you want to be you.
Quote #3
“There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be.”
—Doris Lessing
Many agents, editors, readers and critics would disagree with Doris.
Quote #4 A and B
“The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.”
“I don’t know about lying for novelists. I look at some of the great novelists, and I think the reason they are great is that they’re telling the truth. The fact is they’re using made-up names, made-up people, made-up places, and made-up times, but they’re telling the truth about the human being—what we are capable of, what makes us lose, laugh, weep, fall down, and gnash our teeth and wring our hands and kill each other and love each other.” – Maya Angelou
These are my favorite quotes about writing ever. Writing is about being understood and communicating truths that go straight inside of the reader and helps them see their truths, too, truths and connections.
Quote 5
“Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.”
― Lisa See
Like any craft, when you read other people’s stories, it helps you see how to construct your own.
WRITING TIP OF THE POD
Advice can be take it or leave it, but try to remember to be yourself.
DOG TIP FOR LIFE
You can learn a lot about your craft by seeing other dogs’ techniques. Don’t be afraid to be learned.
SHOUT OUT
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License. Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Summer Spliff” by Broke For Free.
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