writing
“An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.”
“Draw your chair up close to the edge of the precipice and I’ll tell you a story.”
“Action is character.”
“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”
“The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader.”
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”
“Dictionary, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.”
“I grow gnomic. It is the last phase.”
“Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.”
“Plot is observed after the fact rather than before.”
“My stories run up and bite me in the leg — I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite.”
“Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.”
“Poetry, n. A form of expression peculiar to the Land beyond the Magazines.”
“Controversy, n. A battle in which spittle or ink replaces the injurious cannon-ball and the inconsiderate bayonet.”
“I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing — to be clear.”
“If you're going to write a story, avoid contemporary references. They date a story and they have no staying power.”
“There is no way of being almost funny or mildly funny or fairly funny or tolerably funny. You are either funny or not funny and there is nothing in between.”
“Straightforward preaching spoils the effectiveness of a story. If you can't resist the impulse to improve your fellow human beings, do it subtly.”
“Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.”
“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”