“If you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; if you’re not going to be a writer nothing I can say will help you. What you really need at the beginning is somebody to let you know that the effort is real.”

James Baldwin

“The surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite and concrete.”

William  Strunk

“One basic rule that applies is: it’s not the writer who decides whether a character is cool; the reader makes that decision. If a writer tries to force things—or lead the witness, as it were—the result is an embarrassing failure.”

Lee Child

“Look at the scene and ask yourself ‘is it dramatic? Is it essential? Does it advance the plot?’ Answer truthfully. If the answer is “no” write it again or throw it out. ‘

David Mamet

“The writer must get into touch with his reader by putting before him something which he recognizes, which therefore stimulates his imagination, and makes him willing to cooperate in the far more difficult business of intimacy. And it is of the highest importance that this common meeting-place should be reached easily, almost instinctively, in the dark, with […]

“The ‘proper stuff of fiction’ does not exist; everything is the proper stuff of fiction, every feeling, every thought; every quality of brain and spirit is drawn upon, no perception comes amiss.”

Virginia Woolf