Inspiration from Great Writers

Every once and a while I think it helps to look up tips from modern writers. I say modern because they are often still doing interviews, but even those who have passed on before us have given advice not only about writing in general, but about storytelling and wisdom on just how to sit down and write a few hundred words each day.

So here are some words from those I personally think are a little bit wise:

“The only way to write a good short story, we were told, is to write a good short story. Only after it is written can it be taken apart to see how it was done.”

-         John Steinbeck

“I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English – it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them – then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.”

-         Mark Twain

“I write one page of masterpiece to ninety-one pages of shit. I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”

- Ernest Hemingway

“Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.”

-William Faulkner

“There are three types of speech – I don’t know if this is TRUE, but I heard it in a seminar and it made sense. The three types are: Descriptive, Instructive, and Expressive. Descriptive: “The sun rose high…” Instructive: “Walk, don’t run…” Expressive: “Ouch!” Most fiction writers will only use one – at most, two – of these forms. So use all three. Mix them up. It’s how people talk.”

-Chuck Palahniuk

“As for writing, most people secretly believe they themselves have a book in them, which they would write if they could only find the time. And there’s some truth to this notion. A lot of people do have a book in them – that is, they have had an experience that other people might want to read about. But this is not the same as ‘being a writer.’ Or, to put it in a more sinister way: everyone can dig a hole in a cemetery, but not everyone is a grave-digger. The latter takes a good deal more stamina and persistence.”

-Margaret Atwood

Now, go write!

Tags: BurtCreative, Chuck Palahniuk, Ernest Hemingway, famous writers, freelance writing, John Steinbeck, margaret atwood, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, writers on writing, writing advice, writing tips