"I'm not a fast reader. I like to linger over each sentence, enjoying the style. If I don't enjoy the writing, I stop."
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Writing quotes
Writing
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Writing quotes (page 352 of 1537)
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"If I choose to write about sheep, it's just because I happened to write about sheep. There is no deep significance."
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"According to Chekhov," Tamaru said, rising from his chair, "once a gun appears in a story, it has to be fired." "Meaning what?" "Meaning, don't bring unnecessary props into a story. If a pistol appears, it has to be fired at some point. Chekhov liked to write stories that did away with all useless ornamentation."
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"I had my jazz club and I had enough money. So I didn't have to write for my living."
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"A fortunate author can write maybe twelve novels in his lifetime."
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"You have to be practical. So every time I say, if you want to write a novel you have to be practical, people get bored. They are disappointed. They are expecting a more dynamic, creative, artistic thing to say. What I want to say is: you have to be practical."
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"When I am writing, I do not distinguish between the natural and supernatural. Everything seems real. That is my world, you could say."
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"Whenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose)."
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"Perhaps I'm just too painstaking a type of person, but I can't grasp much of anything without putting down my thoughts in writing."
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"I often recall these words when I am writing, and I think to myself, “It’s true. There aren’t any new words. Our job is to give new meanings and special overtones to absolutely ordinary words.” I find the thought reassuring. It means that vast, unknown stretches still lie before us, fertile territories just waiting for us to cultivate them."
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"I'm a writer, not a professional runner. It's fun and it helps me write. I need powerful concentration."
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"If you keep on writing for three years, every day, you should be strong. Of course, you have to be strong mentally, also. But in the first place, you have to be strong physically. That is a very important thing. Physically and mentally you have to be strong."
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"Writing talent is similar to the art of chatting up a girl. You can improve to a certain degree through practice, but basically you are either born with it or you aren't."
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"If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden. The two processes complement each other, creating a complete landscape that I treasure. The green foliage of the trees casts a pleasant shade over the earth, and the wind rustles the leaves, which are sometimes dyed a brilliant gold. Meanwhile, in the garden, buds appear on the flowers, and colorful petals attract bees and butterflies, reminding us of the subtle transition from one season to the next."
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"Good style happens in one of two ways: the writer either has an inborn talent or is willing to work herself to death to get it."
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"You could be anybody when you're writing. That's the reason that I'm writing: to be anybody. You can put your feet in various shoes and experience anything."
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"Most of what I know about writing I've learned through running every day."
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"Writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity."
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"I myself, as I'm writing, don't know who did it. The readers and I are on the same ground. When I start to write a story, I don't know the conclusion at all and I don't know what's going to happen next. If there is a murder case as the first thing, I don't know who the killer is. I write the book because I would like to find out. If I know who the killer is, there's no purpose to writing the story."
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"I never plan. I never know what the next page is going to be..... But that's the fun of writing a novel or a story, because I don't know what's going to happen next."
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