Writing Short Quotes

It's possible, in a poem or short story, to write about commonplace things and objects using commonplace but precise language, and to endow those things—a chair, a window curtain, a fork, a stone, a woman's earring—with immense, even startling power.

I shall not be deterred by people who don't see where the future of Africa lies.

It is the short-sighted people who put their opinions in writing. They don't understand that the future of all countries lies in processing.

A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.

Write a short story every week. It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.

It wasn't by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short.

The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics.

it wasn't by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short.

I worked on 'Blue Peter' and 'Tonight' and lots of TV plays, filmed people like Rudolf Nureyev and Ted Heath, and ended up a senior cameraman with my own crew. I'd had my first short story published in 1947, and when my writing really started to take off I decided to go freelance, and eventually left the BBC in 1965.

Short stories can be rather stark and bare unless you put in the right details.

Details make stories human, and the more human a story can be, the better.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.

I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences.

That is the way to write English - it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in.

Writing a poem is like having an affair, a one-night stand;

a short story is a romance, a relationship; a novel is a marriage-one has to be cunning, devise compromises, and make sacrifices.

Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.

When writing, always hook the reader with your first sentence.

..in love, never settle...value yourself first and this will help you to value others...life is short, so enjoy it to the fullest...everyone in the world is different, and that's ok.

I have found, in short, from reading my own writing, that my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory largely held by the devil.

I'll give you the whole secret to short story writing.

Here it is. Rule 1: Write stories that please yourself. There is no Rule 2.

Blade Runner was the godfather of all these fantastic movies that occur today.

What's frustrating is that we're short of really great writing and great ideas. Blade Runner was full of them.

Philanthropy is not about giving money but about solving problems.

While well-meaning, the idea of writing a check and calling it 'philanthropy' is extremely short-sighted and, unfortunately, extremely pervasive.

A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage.

A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.

Goon Squad' took about three years to write and that's the short end.

My second novel, 'Look at Me,' took six years.

For me, being a writer was never a choice.

I was born one. All through my childhood I wrote short stories and stuffed them in drawers. I wrote on everything. I didn't do my homework so I could write

Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.

I had lots of time to read [being a lawyer] what I hadn't read in my school and college days. Being a bad student I barely passed my exams and I barely bothered about books. It was sports all the time. I started reading and got involved in literature and writing. The few cases I handled gave me the material for my early short stories.

I write quite a lot of sonnets, and I think of them almost as prayers: short and memorable, something you can recite.

For me, the short story is not a character sketch, a mouse trap, an epiphany, a slice of suburban life. It is the flowering of a symbol center. It is a poem grafted onto sturdier stock.

The first writing I did was short short stories for a newspaper syndicate for which I was paid five dollars a piece on publication.

I wasted a lot of years working on my writing and very grandly saying, 'And now.

.. My Novel!,' which would soon be reduced to a short story, then to a paragraph.

Writing for me is a dragnet that carries everything away with it: expressions and figures of speech, postures, feelings, thoughts, troubles. In short, the lives of others.

Details make stories human, and the more human a story can be, the better.

They say it's the good girls who keep diaries.

The bad girls never have the time. Me, I just wanna live a life I'm gonna remember even if I don't write it down.

I began writing early - very, very early.

.. I was already writing short stories for the radio and selling poems to poetry and art festivals; I was involved in school plays; I wrote essays, so there was no definite moment when I said, 'Now I'm a writer.' I've always been a writer.

I have come to understand that life is too complex and much too short to let amateurs direct the story. I would rather let the Master Storyteller do the writing.

My short stories are like soft shadows I have set out in the world, faint footprints I have left. I remember exactly where I set down each and every one of them, and how I felt when I did. Short stories are like guideposts to my heart.

Take lots of time for yourself, discovering yourself-pursue not only a profession but other life passions, I always make time to rock climb or hike or write a few short stories. Also, find good people and surround yourself with them. Most importantly, always believe you will, unequivocally.

I write short stories. They may appear big in size, but when you consider it, they're four or five novels in one... In return for picking up one of my books, I'm trying to give them value for their money... the goal of writing any book is to create the illusion that what you are reading is reality and you're part of it.