Nelson Algren
Quotes
“If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.”
Tennessee Williams
“Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I’m always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it’s very shocking to the system.”
Flannery O’Connor
“A writer’s brain is like a magician’s hat. If you’re going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in first.”
Louis L’Amour
“Revision can grind a good impulse to dust.”
Billy Collins
“No amount of learned skills can substitute for the feeling of having a lot to say, of bringing news. Memories, impressions, and emotions from your first 20 years on earth are most writers’ main material; little that comes afterward is quite so rich and resonant. By the age of 40, you have probably mined the purest veins of this precious lode; after that, continued creativity is a matter of sifting the leavings.”
John Updike
“The books we enjoy as children stay with us forever – they have a special impact. Paragraph after paragraph and page after page, the author must deliver his or her best work.”
Sid Fleischman
“I get a sentence, an idea, an image, and I start. I don’t know anything beyond it. I follow it.”
David Rabe