writing

  1. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Bad writing is....

    Bad writing is not easier than good writing. It’s just as hard to make a toilet seat as it is a castle window. Only the view is different. Ben Hecht
  2. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Writing is the only....

    Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money. Jules Renard
  3. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Writing is like....

    'Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.' Iris Murdoch
  4. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day In writing. Don't use.....

    In writing. Don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, Instead of telling us a thing was "terrible", describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was "delightful"; make us say "delightful" when we've read the description...
  5. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Writing is....

    "Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted." Jules Renard
  6. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Writing is my....

    Writing is my vacation from living. Eugene O’Neill
  7. Rich.

    Historical fiction – when to stop researching?

    Hi folks, This is a pretty open question (perhaps also a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string? question), but I know some of you write historical fiction, so I thought I'd ask. At what point do you say, "Enough already, these are my sources and now I must write"? I appreciate that research is an...
  8. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Most writing is....

    Most writing is done between the mind and the hand not between the hand and the page. Janet Burroway
  9. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Writing a novel....

    'Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.' John Irving
  10. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Hard writing....

    “Hard writing makes easy reading.” Wallace Stegner
  11. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Writing has so much to give....

    Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do - the actual act of writing - turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea...
  12. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day The art of writing....

    'The art of writing is to explain the complications of the human soul with the simplicity that can be universally understood.' Allan Sillitoe
  13. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day Writing is....

    Writing is...being able to take something whole and fiercely alive that exists inside you in some unknowable combination of thought, feeling, physicality, and spirit, and to then store it like a genie intense, tiny black symbols on a calm white page. Mary Gaitskill
  14. Paul Whybrow

    Thought for the Day There's a lot of tasteful writing out there

    There's a lot of tasteful writing out there—nice, tidy, clean—but sometimes it's excess, rawness and the unpolished that work. Dan Vyleta
  15. Rich.

    What fills you with wonder?

    Hi everyone, That question above – What fills you with wonder? – I've been thinking about it lately, thinking about what I like to read (all kinds of things) and what I like to write (mostly fantasy). I love that feeling of awe, that feeling of smallness that wonderful things engender. The...
  16. Rich.

    Writing Backstory

    I've been thinking about backstory and how best to handle it, and I find my self wondering what you think. I've also been thinking about the received wisdom of craft in general – learn the "rules" before you break them, show-don't-tell-or-go-to-hell, don't write on a Tuesday when the wind is in...
  17. Laura Lee

    The twitter lifestyle?

    Hi, all. I am surprised to find myself enjoying twitter (I know, a decade late. Hey, I had dial up internet not too long ago!) I am finding many poets and writers there helping each other. Maybe it's because I am new to it and being careful who I follow--and who follows me? I expected to find...
  18. wendy maryla

    Greetings from Wendy

    Hello, I've just joined Litopia and am looking forward to meeting fellow-writers. I work in international education, but my true passion is, and always has been, writing. I have been agented before, but seem to be jinxed in that department ... my last literary agent had to close down his...
  19. AngryPI

    Writer's drink of choice

    Morning! Thought I'd put my foot in the door a little bit and get to know a few of my fellow writer's habits. With that said: "What is everyone's drink of choice? What stirs your writing senses--stimulates the nerve-endings in your fingers and drives your writing? Flipping it around--what...
  20. AgentPete

    Katie-Ellen Is Writing Dangerously This Year...

    :) The Year of Writing Dangerously
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