On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft (A Memoir of the Craft (Reissue))

Writing is refined thinking.

We are writers, and we never ask one another where we get our ideas; we know we don’t know.

I would argue that the paragraph, not the sentence, is the basic unit of writing—the place where coherence begins and words stand a chance of becoming more than mere words. If the moment of quickening is to come, it comes at the level of the paragraph.

The word is only a representation of the meaning; even at its best, writing almost always falls short of full meaning.

I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.

In my view, stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech.