Good Writing Quotes - Page 4

• Most good writing is clear, vigorous, honest, alive, sensuous, appropriate, unsentimental, rhythmic, without pretension, fresh, metaphorical, evocative in sound, economical, authoritative, surprising, memorable, and light.

  Ken Macrorie

  Memorable, Writing, Light

  Ken Macrorie (1985). “Telling Writing”, Boynton/Cook

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• Every page was once a blank page, just as every word that appears on it now was not always there, but instead reflects the final result of countless large and small deliberations. All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another. And what grabs and keeps our interest has everything to do with those choices.

  Francine Prose

  Writing, Skills, Choices

  Francine Prose (2009). “Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them”, p.16, Harper Collins

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• It takes a lot of bad writing to get to a little good writing.

  Truman Capote

  Writing, Littles, Bad Writing

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• Good writing , like gold , combines lustrous lucidity with high density. What this means is good writing is packed with hints.

  Eric Hoffer

  Writing, Mean, Gold

  "Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook" by Tom Bethell in Harper's Magazine, July 2005.

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• Good writing is good writing no matter what genre you're writing in, and I believe that there are only a handful of fundamental craft tools that are essential for any genre-including nonfiction.

  Georgia Heard

  Believe, Writing, Essentials

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• It may be observed of good writing, as of good blood, that it is much easier to say what it is composed of than to compose it.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Writing, Blood, May

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.9

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• Good writing is writing and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. Sometimes, it happens to work right away, and that's amazing. But most of the time, it happens to work, and then you rewrite and rewrite and rewrite, and maybe it even comes back to the thing it was in the first place, but then you know for sure that it is good, and it's what you wanted to do.

  Kate Beaton

  Writing, Firsts, Sometimes

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• Good writing happens when human beings follow particular steps to take control of their sentences-to make their words do what they want them to do.

  Ralph Fletcher

  Writing, Want, Steps

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• There are so many burning issues to be dealt with that it's completely understandable and natural that a character is struggling with these issues themselves. In that struggle, you inform the audience. The thing about this writing is that it's very easy to learn. Good writing always is.

  Colm Meaney

  Struggle, Writing, Character

  Source: collider.com

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• You have to read a lot so you know what good writing looks like and you get inspired. You have to write a lot because it's like a sport - you have to practice. And, also, you have to persevere. Don't give up. I got rejected on my first book, like, 14 times, but I just kept going. So believe in yourself and don't give up.

  Rick Riordan

  Sports, Giving Up, Book

  Source: starraptureblog.wordpress.com

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• That is as true for fiction or non-fiction. The writer has to really know their subject. It is really important to remember that the readers are a lot smarter than the writer. Also, good writing has to do with rewriting. You will never get it right the first time. So you rewrite and rewrite again until you get it right. Until you, and the reader, will be able to visualize what you're writing about.

  Michael Scott

  Writing, Important, Fiction

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• You have to be an extremely good reader to appreciate what a good writer is. There are some people who are completely insensitive to good writing.

  Robert Caro

  Writing, People, Appreciate

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• Good writing must stay open to the questions and not fall prey to the pull of a polemic, otherwise, words simply become predictable, sentimental, and stale.

  Terry Tempest Williams

  Fall, Writing, Sentimental

  Terry Tempest Williams (2006). “A voice in the wilderness: conversations with Terry Tempest Williams”, Utah State Univ Pr

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• Sometimes with certain writing, you feel like you've got to be literal, hit it hard on the nose, just to get the point across. Good writing is more subversive I think - or good scenes. They are about one thing on the page but you can make it about something completely different.

  Chace Crawford

  Writing, Thinking, Pages

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• The only good writing is intuitive writing. It would be a big bore if you knew where it was going. It has to be exciting, instantaneous and it has to be a surprise. Then it all comes blurting out and it’s beautiful. I’ve had a sign by my typewriter for 25 years now which reads, ‘DON’T THINK!’

  Ray Bradbury

  Beautiful, Writing, Thinking

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• Brendan O’Meara’s Six Weeks in Saratoga is a victory to be savored by those who treasure good writing in general and tales of the track in particular. Horses may win races, but they also win hearts as this impressive book proves beyond doubt. A memorable, sure-footed debut.

  Madeleine Blais

  Horse, Book, Memorable

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• All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another.

  Francine Prose

  Writing, Skills, Creative

  Francine Prose (2009). “Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them”, p.16, Harper Collins

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• Let us prove to the world that good taste, good art, and good writing can be good selling.

  William Bernbach

  Art, Writing, Taste

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• The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what—these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur in proportion to the education and rank.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Long, Secret

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• The point of good writing is knowing when to stop.

  Lucy Maud Montgomery

  Inspirational, Writing, Knowing

  1917 Anne's House of Dreams, ch.24.

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• To my mind, nothing is as important as good writing, because in literature, the walls between people and cultures are broken down, and the things that plague us most—suspicion and fear of the other, and the tendency to see whole groups of people as objects, as monoliths of one cultural stereotype or another—are defeated. This work is not done as a job, ladies and gentlemen, it is done out of love for the art and the artists who brought it forth, and who still bring it forth to us, down the years and across ignorance and chaos and borderlines.

  Richard Bausch

  Art, Jobs, Wall

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• Good writing never soothes or comforts. It is no prescription, neither is it diversionary, although it can and should enchant while it explodes in the reader's face.

  Joy Williams

  Writing, Comfort, Faces

  Joy Williams (2015). “Ill Nature: Rants and Reflections on Humanity and Other Animals”, p.181, Rowman & Littlefield

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• The first is that good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals (vocabulary, grammar, the elements of style) and then filling the third level of your toolbox with the right instruments. The second is that while it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one

  Stephen King

  Hard Work, Writing, Dedication

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• I never read prefaces, and it is not much good writing things just for people to skip. I wonder other authors have never thought of this.

  E. Nesbit

  Writing, People, Wonder

  E. Nesbit (2013). “Delphi Complete Novels of E. Nesbit”, p.23, Delphi Classics

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• If a man means his writing seriously, he must mean to write well. But how can he write well until he learns to see what he has written badly. His progress toward good writing and his recognition of bad writing are bound to unfold at something like the same rate.

  John Ciardi

  Writing, Mean, Men

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