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"Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him."
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"You spill a lot of beans in historical fiction. Crime fiction is about spilling no beans at all. You spill the least beans you possibly can. So because I had already written historical fiction before I was really good at the spilling beans section, but the new skill I had to learn when I was writing Brighton Belle was difficult. I had to avoid the equivalent of shouting, "this character's a murderer! Look who did it!."
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Personal Development
"Don't say it was delightful; make us say delightful when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers Please will you do the job for me."
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Personal Development
"Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy."
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Personal Development
"We write, edit, and rewrite the story of our own life employing descriptive words, metaphors, and symbols. Our lives are full of symbols including those supplied by nature and religion, which touch upon the mystical and spiritual aspects of life. Symbols inspire enduring hope by formulating idealist expectations."
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Personal Development
"I'm a fairly undisciplined writer."
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Personal Development
"Writing is the supreme solace."
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Personal Development
"Writers aren't exactly people, they're a bunch of people trying to be one person."
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Personal Development
"My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
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Personal Development
"Pour your heart onto the page."
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Personal Development
"Don't go overboard in avoiding "said. Basically, "said is the default for dialogue, and a good thing, too; it's an invisible word that doesn't draw attention to itself."
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"I have found that the greatest help in meeting any problem is to know where you yourself stand. That is, to have in words what you believe and are acting from."
Wisdom
"I don't think anybody can teach anybody anything. I think that you learn it, but the young writer that is as I say demon-driven and wants to learn and has got to write, he don't know why, he will learn from almost any source that he finds. He will learn from older people who are not writers, he will learn from writers, but he learns it -- you can't teach it."
Creativity
"Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life."
Time
"I will never lie again."
Truth
"Though children can accept adults as adults, adults can never accept children as anything but adults too."
Society
"Freedom comes with the decision: it does not wait for the act."
Freedom
"Only fools imply compliments. The wise man comes right out with it, point-blank. Imply criticism--unless the criticized isn't within earshot."
Manners
"When it's a matter of not-do, I reckon a man can trust himself for advice. But when it comes to a matter of doing, I reckon a fellow had better listen to all the advice he can get."
Wisdom
"It's always the idle habits you acquire which you will regret. Father said that. That Christ was not crucified: he was worn away by a minute clicking of little wheels. That had no sister."
Regret
"You don't love because: you love despite; not for the virtues, but despite the faults."
Love
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