WRITING'S A FUNNY OLD GAME

Here are a few quotations from other writers culled by EVB.

There are three rules for writing the novel. unfortunately no one knows what they are. W.SOMERSET MAUGHAM

The novelist, afraid that his ideas may be foolish, slyly puts them in the mouth of some other fool and reserves the right to disavow them.DIANE JOHNSON

Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules; unschooled writers break rules, an artist masters form. ROBERT McKEE.

One of the things that makes novels less plausible than history is the way they shrink from coincidence. TOM STOPPARD

A writer is somebody for whome writing is more difficult than it is for other people. THOMAS MANN

It has been said that an author who expects results from a first novel is in a position similar to that of a man who drops a rose petal down the Grand Canyon of Arizona and listens for the echo. P.G.WODEHOUSE

Writing a book is an adventure. It begins as an amusement, then it becomes a mistress, then a master and finally a tyrant. SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL

All a writer has to do to get a woman is to say he's a writer. It's an aphrodisiac. SAUL BELLOW. {Not proven - webmaster}

An ending must be inevitable and unexpected.ARISTOTLE

I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork. I write when I am inspired and I see to it that I am inspired at nine o clock every morning. PETER DE VRIES

Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke. SCOTT FITGERALD

That's not writing - that's typing.
TRUMAN CAPOTE

Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being. A.A.MILNE

The maturing process of becoming a writer is akin to that of a harlot. First you do it for love, then for a few friends and finally only for money.MOLIERE

In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigour it will give to your style. SYDNEY SMITH

The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business. JOHN STEINBECK

No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft. H.G.WELLS

The writer is lucky. She has only to take up her pen and the burdens of life evaporate. She is cast adrift in a universe of imagination and, on her return to reality she is astonished at what she has produed. ROSEMARY FRIEDMAN

As a writer you are learning all the time. You are hoping that every book will be better than the previous one. If you are not trying to improve I can't see the point of it.MARK BILLINGHAM

Imagination is more important than knowledge.ALBERT EINSTIEN

The difference between real life and fiction is fiction has to make sense. TOM CLANCEY

Words are, of course, the mostpowerful drugs used by mankinD. RUDYARD KIPLING

What does it mean to be a writer? You get to live more than one life. Most people never get the chance to step out of their own skin. RUPERT THOMPSON

Writing's sweet torture, aint it ? ERIC V BEER