Literature and Words

Just get the right syllable in the proper place.

Rely on the sudden erection of your small dorsal hairs.

The secret of all good writing is sound judgment.

Do not pay any attention to the rules other people make.… They make them for their own protection, and to hell with them.

There is probably some long-standing “rule” among writers, journalists, and other word-mongers that says: “When you start stealing from your own work you’re in bad trouble.” And it may be true.

The main rule of a writer is never to pity your manuscript. If you see something is no good, throw it away and begin again.

Never fear [the audience] or despise it. Coax it, charm it, interest it, stimulate it, shock it now and then if you must, make it laugh, make it cry, but above all … never, never, never bore the hell out of it.

The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.

Beware of creating tedium! I know no guard against this so likely to be effective as the feeling of the writer himself. When once the sense that the thing is becoming long and has grown upon him, he may be sure that it will grow upon his readers.

It’s not wise to violate the rules until you know how to observe them.

Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.

I have made three rules of writing for myself that are absolutes: Never take advice. Never show or discuss a work in progress. Never answer a critic.

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

One of the great rules of art: do not linger.

Don’t get it right, get it written.

The one great rule of composition is to speak the truth.

There are simple maxims … which I think might be commended to writers of expository prose. First: never use a long word if a short one will do. Second: if you want to make a statement with a great many qualifications, put some of the qualifications in separate sentences. Third: do not let the beginning of your sentence lead the readers to an expectation which is contradicted by the end.

The author must keep his mouth shut when his work starts to speak.

A good rule for writers: Do not explain overmuch.

I see but one rule: to be clear .

Be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours.

If you are writing a manuscript so long that the prospect of not reading at all until you have finished is too intolerable, be sure to choose books which are as unlike your own book as possible: read technical books, history, or, best of all, books in other languages.

No one who intends to take up writing as a career should read any work that lies in the category in which his own efforts would be placed. If he disobeys this rule, he will almost certainly feel he must write literature instead of trying to say what he means.

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.