on writing
I once heard Don DeLillo quip that a fiction writer starts with meaning and then manufactures events to represent it; a memoirist starts with events, then derives meaning from them.
Mary Karr • The Art of Memoir
Nobel Lecture by Jon Fosse, Nobel Laureate in Literature 2023
Jon Fosse reflects on his journey as a writer, influenced by childhood fear, solitude, and listening. He discusses the power of literature, silence, and the significance of the Nobel Prize.
nobelprize.orgOnce again I was struck by one of the miracles of the cognitive process—that the act of writing will summon from the buried past exactly what we need exactly when we need it. Memory and intuition and chance associations will always generate a certain percentage of what any writer writes. The remainder is generated by reason.
William Zinsser • Writing to Learn: How to Write - and Think - Clearly About Any Subject at All
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