It’s hard to predict exactly how a novel will be received, but there are always some surprises. I could not have predicted the brouhaha started by an Alaskan columnist over the fact that the University of Alaska Press published a…
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
Mark Twain
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.
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
Jane Austen
“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.”
Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.
William Faulkner
