A Writer Describes but Doesn't Explain

A writer should not be an interpreter. He should not try to explain the facts of life. He should only describe them, make them alive as possible.

from Conversations with Isaac Bashevis Singer

Quote: The Power of Poetry

"The Power of verse is derived from an indefinable harmony between what it SAYS and what it IS. Indefinable is essential to the definition." --Paul Valery, quoted by Edward Hirsch in How to Read a Poem.

Dealing with the Unspoken

[Thornton] Wilder taught me that what a writer deals with is the unspoken, what people see or sense in silence.

(from Sol Stein in "Stein on Writing"--Chapter One)

What Kind of Writing Pays Best?

"I once asked this literary agent what kind of writing paid best. He said: ransom notes."

from Elmore Leonard, in GET SHORTY

Literature is a Form of Daydreaming

Literature is actually a form of daydreaming, under control or with a purpose. Not with a message, but with a purpose.

from Conversations with Isaac Bashevis Singer

Passive Voice

Simply put, passive voice is a verb phrase; that is, a verb string consisting of a being verb plus a past participle; for example: The submarine was (being verb) sunk (past participle).

Also, writers often follow the verb with a prepositional phrase that begins with "by." The object of the preposition, the doer of the verb's action, should be the subject; for example: The submarine was sunk by the Germans.

Sometimes passive voice is necessary.

--from Joy Bagley, writer and workshop leader

Flannery O'Connor's "Moment of Grace"

"There is a moment of grace in most of the stories, or a moment where it is offered, and is usually rejected. Like when the Grandmother recognizes the Misfit as one of her own children and reaches out to touch him. It's the moment of grace for her anyway--a silly old woman--but it leads him to shoot her. This moment of grace excites the devil to frenzy."

from Flannery O'Connor's THE HABIT OF BEING letter to Andrew Lytle, 4 February 1960