Good Advice on Writing. Safire and Safir.

Good Advice on Writing: Writers Past and Present on How to Write Well.
William Safire and Leonard Safir.
New York: Simon and Schuster. 1992.

Four questions to ask before writing: What specific point do I want to make? Is it worth making? For whom am I writing? How can I best convey my point to my readers? If you don't ask those questions, no amount of good grammar and correct spelling will save you. A definite point for definite readers. TS Kane & LI Peters.

Writing is an exploration: you learn as you go. EL Doctorow.

Start writing--anything! The ideas will soon start flowing. LS Bernstein.

Brainstorming is not free association: it is a goal-directed effort to discover ideas relevant to your topic. L. Flower.

If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. Toni Morrison.

Recipe for beginning to write fiction: Choose a person. What does this person want? What prevents him from getting it? What does he do about this obstacle? What are the results of what he does? What showdown does all this lead to? Does he get what he wants, finally, or does he not? EJ McGraw.

I don't like to walk away from a book or a movie feeling that life isn't worth a damn. Danielle Steel.

Give the reader the most knowledge in the least time. CC Colton.

I write out of curiosity. W Trevor.

I write to understand as much as to be understood. E Wiesel.

Discipline is an aid to creativity. Easy writing makes hard reading. F King.

If the reader feels as if it happened to himself, that's the true test of writing. Hemingway.

Before writing the first draft, put your notes away. What you remember is what should be remembered. DM Murray.

People who are not real writers just want to have written. RP Warren.

I always know the ending. That's where I start. T Morrison.

I always write the last line first. M Davenport.

What your already know is usually dull. K Kesey.

If you talk about what you are writing, you've already used it up. N Mailer.

I carry my ideas about me for a long time, often a very long time before I commit them to writing. Ludwig Van Beethoven.

The task of a writer consists in being able to make something out of an idea. Thomas Mann. [I think what Mann is saying here is that you begin with an idea and explore if fully. RayS.]

Don't ever hesitate to imitate another writer--every artist learning his craft needs some models; eventually, you will find your own voice and shed the skin of the writer you imitated. William Zinsser.

The spoken language does not have the same standards as the written language. William Safire.

When you are writing, you're trying to find out something which you don't know. James Baldwin.

Write your ending first; your ending may prove a useful starting point in fine-tuning your focus. K Krull.

How to be and how to do are almost certain guarantees of a successful book or article. I Ziegler.

A story and especially a play must open with a crisis. L Egri.

Begin by writing a summary of the article you are going to write. RayS.

The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. Agatha Christie.

Never write about a place until you're away from it, because that gives you perspective. Hemingway.

In the very best styles you read page after page without noticing the medium. Coleridge.

When people say, 'Gosh, it runs so smoothly,' they don't realize that it's hours and hours and hours of honing each sentence.... Author unknown.

What makes a good movie is a couple of moments that the audience remembers. Rosalind Russell as quoted by William Goldman.

The only reward to be expected for the cultivation of literature is contempt if one fails and hatred if one succeeds. Voltaire.

Never start a sentence with 'It is...'; that sort of lollygagging up to a subject puts a reader to sleep. William Safire. [Note: I do it all the time. He has a point. RayS.]

There has to be one point that is sharply in focus, and a clear grouping of everything else around it; once you see this clearly, your reader will see it too. Rudolf Flesch.

The greatest possible merit of style is, of course, to make the words absolutely disappear into the thought. Hawthorne.

Introduce it, lay it out, sum it up. William Safire.

Don't talk about it. Write it. Jackie Collins.