Category: Quotes

William Faulkner, speaking of Ernest Hemingway: “He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”

Hemingway’s response: “Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?”

[M]aybe it would be cool to have conversations about this thing that I’m the most passionate about in my life with the person I’m most passionate about.

Jessi Arrington speaking of business partner and husband Creighton Mershon. cf. “Once you’re on the job, having a best friend at work is a strong predictor of success. People might define ‘best’ loosely (think of this as kindergarten where you can have more than one ‘best’ friend), but according to a Gallup Organization study of more than 5 million workers over 35, 56% of the people who say they have a best friend at work are engaged, productive, and successful while only 8% of the ones who don’t are.” —Why Friends Matter at Work and in Life (via bobulate)

10. Torture your protagonist.

The writer is both a sadist and a masochist. We create people we love, and then we torture them. The more we love them, and the more cleverly we torture them along the lines of their greatest vulnerability and fear, the better the story. Sometimes we try to protect them from getting booboos that are too big. Don’t. This is your protagonist, not your kid.

Janet Fitch’s Ten Rules For Writers

I used to write things for friends. There was this girl I had a crush on, and she had a teacher she didn’t like at school. I had a real crush on her, so almost every day I would write her a little short story where she would kill him in a different way.


Stephen Colbert