Kevin Lippert - The Writer Says

Also available in the Words of Wisdom series:

The Architect Says

Laura S. Dushkes

The Designer Says

Sara Bader

The Filmmaker Says

Jamie Thompson Stern

The Chef Says

Nach Waxman and Matt Sartwell

The Musician Says

Benedetta LoBalbo

The Inventor Says

Kevin Lippert

T his is the seventh volume in our informally named Words of Wisdom series, which includes collections of quotes and quips from architects, designers, musicians, filmmakers, chefs, and inventors. Typically, these are library research projects (the series was inspired by librarian Laura Dushkes collection of quotes from architects, which became The Architect Says). The process involves finding, verifying, and organizing quotes, a sometimes painstaking effort. This book, however, was more akin to filling a Dixie cup from a fire hose, so large is the universe of advice to and from writers, in the form of books, articles, interviews, websites, and courses. Writers dont agree about what to write about, or how, but do seem to agree theres always room for one more book on the shelf of writing advice.

The quotes come from many different kinds of writers, including novelists, personal essayists, grammarians, academics, and journalists, but certain threads are common: the necessity of a good work space, a diligent work schedule, and perseverance (Annie Lamotts oft-quoted dictum Butt in chair, from her wise and funny Bird by Bird, is repeated in many iterations), the need for a good editor (Ive been extremely fortunate to have one of the best in the business, Sara Stemen, as mine), and the absolute necessity of reading in generalwidely, often, and carefully. Whether or not youre a writer and use this book for inspiration, fun, or not at all, this exhortation to read is music to a publishers ears, and Im delighted youve made room in your reading and writing schedule for this slim volume. I hope you find some nuggets to invigorate and amuse, as I did.

While this is by no means a how-to book, it draws from much of the landscape of books about writing, from the ups and downs of the writing life (as in Dani Shapiros heartfelt and honest Still Writing) to discussions of what makes fiction effective (E. M. Forsters witty Aspects of the Novel) to the mechanics and poetics of wordsmithing (Verlyn Klinkenborgs Several Short Sentences about Writing and Richard Goodmans The Soul of Creative Writing). Indeed, anyone interested in writing and the power of language will be richer for diving into any of the sources here.

Kevin Lippert
Hudson, New York
November 2017

WRITING IS AN
ACT OF COURAGE.

Ta-Nehisi Coates (1975)

What writing is:
telepathy, of course.

Stephen King (1947)

The great power of literature... is that if 1,000 people read the same book, the book reads each of them differently.

David Grossman (1954)

Words, English words, are full of echoes, of memories, of associations. They have been out and about, on peoples lips, in their houses, in the streets, in the fields, for so many centuries. And that is one of the chief difficulties in writing them todaythat they are stored with other meanings, with other memories, and they have contracted so many famous marriages in the past.

Virginia Woolf (18821941)

Beware of a writer quoting too much; he may be quoting all he knows.

Alfred Kazin (191598)

YOU CAN ONLY BECOME A BETTER WRITER BY BECOMING A BETTER READER.

Verlyn Klinkenborg (1952)

What I wrote when I was very young had some of the characteristic qualities of every writer I had any feeling for. It takes a while before that admiration sinks back and becomes unconscious. The writers stay with you for the rest of your life. But at least they dont intrude and become visible to the reader.

William Maxwell (19082000)

My childhood was aberrant and peculiar and nomadic and absolutely unpredictable.... The mixture of solitude and uncertainty fertilized the situation enormously.... Inevitably I was making up stories to myself, retreating into myself.

John le Carr (1931)

Writing for me is to a large extent self-entertainment, and the only child is driven to do that. For example, Im an expert whistler... but that takes hours of practice, the sort of thing one hasnt got time for if ones part of a large family, I imagine.

Kingsley Amis (192295)

When I was between fourteen and eighteen I was a delinquent teenager, always in trouble, breaking the law, doing drugs. Then I became a successful writer, and it has sort of worked out.

Hanif Kureishi (1954)

IF I HADNT WRITTEN, I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING STUPID THAT WOULD HAVE LED TO MY DEATH.

Octavia Butler (19472006)

Some kids liked to play tennis, I liked to write. I wasnt out hanging out or doing a lot of stuff teens were doing, because what I liked to do was be in my room and type.

S. E. Hinton (1948)

I... looked back to myself as a sixteen-year-old and how much I loved reading and how a book could completely change my life... so I just like the idea of trying to write for all those versions of me out there, wherever they are.

Sherman Alexie (1966)

I STARTED WRITING MY OWN THINGS WHEN I WAS TWELVE, THIRTEEN, AND I KNOW WHY I DID ITMAINLY BECAUSE I HAD FINISHED ALL THE ADVENTURE NOVELS, MUSKETEER NOVELS, AND DUMAS THAT I WAS READING AT THE TIME. THEN I FOUND OUT I COULD WRITE THEM MYSELF.

Javier Maras (1951)

Finally, after all these years of reading books, editing books, working in libraries, I thought, Wait a minute, theres no book in there about me! So if I wanted to read it, I would probably have to write it.

Toni Morrison (1931)

My family has been the biggest thing in my life. It is much more than just a resource for my writing. I have always felt like the son in some ways.
I think thats true of all extended families, as true of Italian or Jewish families as Indian ones. You never gain independence. In your imagination, you are always someones child, long dead though they may be.

Vikram Seth (1952)

Your mother will not make you a writer. My advice to any young person who wants to write is: leave home.

Paul Theroux (1941)

I decided to become a writer. It was a good idea. Having had no experience whatever in writing, except writing letters and reports, I wasnt handicapped by exaggerated notions of the difficulties ahead.

Dashiell Hammett (18941961)

I JUST KNEW I WOULD BE A WRITER. IT JUST SEEMED THE ONLY SENSIBLE THING TO DO.

Jane Gardam (1928)

If you get right out of college and expect (or want) to get a job as a writer, you might be making a mistake. You might be better off working on a merchant ship or a cannery or a hospitalsomething new, something where you might learn a thing or two.

Dave Eggers (1970)

Do something else. Because whats going to happen in the next five years if you stay within your niche is already so circumscribed and predictable. And what can happen if you leave it and do something else is unknown, and therefore bigger. Experiences like these, and the people youll meet, can inform your work in the future in so many ways.