Writing Quote #25

"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning and took out a comma. In the afternoon, I put it back in."

- Oscar Wilde

Writing Quote #24

"Every writer must acknowledge and be able to handle the unalterable fact that he has, in effect, given himself a life sentence in solitary confinement. The ordinary world of work is closed to him -- and that if he's lucky!"

- Peter Straub

Writing Quote #23

"Most people don't realize that writing is a craft. You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else."

- Katherine Ann Porter

Writing Quote #22

"The reader has certain rights. He bought your story. Think of this as an implicit contract. He's entitled to be entertained, instructed, amused; maybe all three. If he quits in the middle, or puts the books down feeling his time has been wasted, you're in violation."

- Lary Niven

Writing Quote #21

"My stories run up and bite me in the leg. I respond by writing them down - everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off."

- Ray Bradbury