Inspirational Quotes for Writers
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| Inspiration comes from many sources. Photo (c) Janet Cameron |
According to The Talmud, "a quotation at the right moment is like bread to the famished."
Quotations
from ancient to modern writers and thinkers can help to provide a
fresh angle on what makes writing truly memorable.
In gathering these
small gems of wisdom, it's refreshing to see how people have
struggled with the same writing dilemmas since long before Christ,
and have, for the most part, arrived at similar realisations.
Sometimes subtle, sometimes brutally honest, sharp or incisive, there
will be something here for all writers who need that extra jolt of
inspiration.
Characterisation
Creating
wonderful, three-dimensional characters is one of the first
priorities for the new writer because, unless we can relate to them
in their struggles, their story will not grip our imagination. The
importance of warm, lively, real characters has been endorsed by many
writers. The two quoted below created some of the most memorable
characters in English literature.
"Oh!
it is only a novel!... only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda, or, in
short, only some work in which the most thorough knowledge of human
nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest
effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best
chosen language." ~ Jane Austen, Northanger
Abbey,
(1818)
"The
test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a
convincing way. If it never surprises, it is flat. If it does not
convince, it is flat pretending to the round." ~E.M.
Forster, Aspects
of the Novel,
(1927)
Motivation
Every
writer experiences a fallow period from time to time, sometimes due
to a need to recharge internal energies and sometimes as a result of
external circumstances, as the following writers demonstrate.
"Biting
my truant pen, beating myself for spite, / 'Fool!' said my Muse to
me, "look in thy heart and write." ~ Philip
Sidney, Astrophil
and Stella (1591)
"So
all my best is dressing old words new, / Spending again what is
already spent." ~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 76 (1609)
"A
woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write
fiction." ~ Virginia Woolf, A
Room of One's Own (1929)
Passion
In
the end, it all comes down to passion. If we don't feel passionate
about what we do, how can we expect our readers to feel passion?
"Works
of serious purpose and grand promises often have a purple patch or
two stiched on, to shine far and wide." ~ Horace, (65-8 BC) Ars
Poetica.
"Never
forget what I believe was observed to you by Coleridge, that every
great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original,
must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished." ~
William Wordsworth, letter to Lady Beaumont, 21 May 1807.
"Only
connect... Only connect the prose and the passion." ~
E.M.Forster, Howards
End,(1910)
As
Willa Cather says, it doesn't matter how many times a story has been
repeated, each must be told as though for the very first time. All
you need is a new, fresh angle.
"There
are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating
themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before." ~
Willa Cather, O
Pioneers, (1913)
Editing:
Often,
editing is easier to do if you have left a break after finishing your
first draft before attempting to correct and revise your work,
although maybe Voltaire's suggestion is a little over-the-top:
"You
can never correct your work well until you have forgotten it." ~
Voltaire (1694-1778)
The
importance of removing empty or superfluous words, phrases and
repetition and applying ruthless editing have been recognised since
before Christ. Today, we have honed our editing skills to a fine art,
striking out adjectives and adverbs, while setting store by the use
of specific nouns and strong verbs.
"Often
you must turn your stylus to erase if you hope to write something
worth a second reading." ~ Horace, Roman poet, (65-8BC)
"We
must beat the iron while it is hot, but we may polish it at leisure."
~ John Dryden,
Aeneis (1697)
"Not
that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it
short." ~ Henry David Thoreau in a letter to Harrison Blake, 16
November, 1857.
"As
to the Adjective, when in doubt, strike it out." ~ Mark
Twain, Pudd'nhead
Wilson(1894)
Plagiarism
The
following is an over-simplification - nothing is quite so black and
white - even if there is an uncomfortable element of truth in A.
Johnston's witty quotation.
"If
you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many,
it's research." ~ Wilson Mizner, in A. Johnston's The
Legendary Mizners (1953)
Special
Dedication
As
for irony, here is a beautiful example by the writer, P.G. Wodehouse.
"To
my daughter, Leonora, without whose never-failing sympathy and
encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time."
~ P.G.
Wodehouse, The
Heart of a Goof dedication
(1926)
Learning
from the Past - and Moving On
It
is humbling to realise that insights into the craft of writing have
many historical precedents and that nothing is actually new. What is
equally true is that we have to find new, fresh, exciting ways to
tell our stories so that we will continue to engage our readers in
years to come.
Sources:
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The Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Ed. Susan Ratcliffe, Oxford University Press, 1994.
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3,500 Good Quotes for Speakers, Gerald F. Lieberman, Thorsons Publishers Limited, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, 1984.
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Reader's Digest Pocket Treasury of Great Quotations, The Readers Digest Association Limited, London, 1979.
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A Woman's Notebook, Exley Publications Ltd., Watford, Herts, 1988.
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