Posts Tagged‘Craft of Writing’
Quotation of the Week: Pete Hamill
“I always mention Flaubert’s advice to young Guy de Maupassant: Get black on white. That is, start writing. What you write can always be changed later, sharpened, deepened, or even thrown away. But nothing will emerge if the words are locked within your skull. Start.”
–Pete Hamill
Source: Hamill’s response to the question, “What is the best piece of advice you would give a writer just starting out?” In an interview conducted by Tom Callahan, published in the December 2011 issue of The Writer.
The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers
Friday Find: Diane Lockward’s Poetry Newsletter
It’s always a treat to find Diane Lockward’s monthly poetry newsletter waiting in my electronic mailbox. Each issue is like a mini-course in poetry (maybe that has something to do with Diane’s extensive experience as a teacher). Take a look at the November issue, which arrived on Tuesday. I think that you’ll want to subscribe, too!
Enjoy the weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday!
Quotation of the Week: Leslie Epstein
Responding to an interview question (“Are there a lot of plotless stories in your [Boston University M.F.A.] program?”), Leslie Epstein said:
When they enter the program, but not when they leave. I’m always stressing these things. Plot and dialogue. I say just sit your people down at a dinner table and have them start talking. One of the main things: keep out of people’s heads. Do not write like Virginia Woolf if you want to get through this year. What people do and what they say is, for the most part, all we need to know. No dreams, no memories, no photographs. Nor wind chimes. Nor moonlight. Show us what people do an d say. Of course every one of these rules is meant to be broken, but you have to justify breaking them.
What do you think?
(This snippet comes from an interview, conducted by Spencer Wise, in the latest issue of The Southeast Review. The print copy is one of the reasons I sign up for SER‘s writing regimens.)