Wise Words

 

Thoughts on creativity from authors born February 7:

from British novelist and social critic Charles Dickens (The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations) 1812-1870):

An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.

There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.

The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.

Prowling about the rooms, sitting down, getting up, stirring the fire, looking out the window, teasing my hair, sitting down to write, writing nothing, writing something and tearing it up...

It is no worse, because I write of it. It would be no better, if I stopped my most unwilling hand. Nothing can undo it; nothing can make it otherwise than as it was.

Yet, I had nothing else to tell; unless, indeed, I were to confess (which might be of less moment still), that no one can ever believe this Narrative, in the reading, more than I believed it in the writing.

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from American children’s author Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie series) (1867-1957):

As you read my stories of long ago I hope you will remember that things truly worthwhile and that will give you happiness are the same now as they were then. It is not the things you have that make you happy. It is love and kindness and helping each other and just plain being good.

We who live in quiet places have the opportunity to become acquainted with ourselves, to think our own thoughts and live our own lives in a way that is not possible for those keeping up with the crowd.

The only stupid thing about words is the spelling of them.

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from Scottish-American mathematician and novelist Eric Temple Bell (Algebraic Arithmetic, Men of Mathematics, The Development of Mathematics, The Time Stream, Seeds of Life, The Forbidden Garden) (1883-1960):

The very basis of creative work is irreverence! The very basis of creative work is bold experimentation. There has never been a creator of lasting importance who has not also been an innovator.

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from American Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and social critic Sinclair Lewis (Arrowsmith); also noted for Main Street, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry, Dodsworth) (1885-1951):

Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient, and sterile.

People read fiction for emotion—not information.

When audiences come to see us authors lecture, it is largely in the hope that we'll be funnier to look at than to read.

It is impossible to discourage the real writers—they don't give a damn what you say, they're going to write.

Writers kid themselves—about themselves and other people. Take the talk about writing methods. Writing is just work—there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type with your toes—it is just work.

Writers have a rare power not given to anyone else: we can bore people long after we are dead.

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from American writer Gay Talese (The New York Times, Esquire, Honor Thy Father, Thy Neighbor's Wife) (b. 1932):

I write and rewrite and rewrite and write and like to turn in what I think is finished work.

Better that you should take the chance of trying something that is close to your heart, you think is what you want to write, and if they do not publish it, put it in your drawer. But maybe another day will come and you will find a place to put that.

I am writing about people who are alive in the city of New York during mid-20th-century America. And these people are like a character in a play or they are figures in a short story or a novel.

I've always had standards about writing well. There is art in this business. There is potentially great art.

I could come up with 50 stories that I am thinking about.

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from English editor and poet Brian Patten (The Mersey Sound, Armada, Love Poems, Gargling with Jelly) (b. 1946):

When in public poetry should take off its clothes and wave to the nearest person in sight; it should be seen in the company of thieves and lovers rather than that of journalists and publishers.

On sighting mathematicians poetry should unhook the algebra from their minds and replace it with poetry; on sighting poets it should unhook poetry from their minds and replace it with algebra.

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from American science fiction, fantasy, and literary novelist Karen Joy Fowler (Sarah Canary, Black Glass, What I Didn't See, and Other Stories, The Jane Austen Book Club, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves) (b. 1950):

The smart way to build a literary career is you create an identifiable product, then reliably produce that product so people know what they are going to get. That's the smart way to build a career, but not the fun way. Maybe you can think about being less successful and happier. That's an option, too.

I hear so many writers say—and these are writers that I trust completely—'I just started hearing a voice', or, 'The characters came to life'. I am filled with loathing for my own characters when I hear that because they do nothing of the sort. Left to their own devices, they do nothing but drink coffee and complain about their lives.

I read my books to writing workshops and friends, and I'm often focussed just on keeping them entertained. I never think about marketing at all.

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from American “New Thought” author Mike Dooley (Thoughts Become Things, Infinite Possibilities) (d. 1961):

When you understand that what most people really, really want is simply to feel good about themselves, and when you realize that with just a few well-chosen words you can help virtually anyone on the planet instantly achieve this, you begin to realize just how simple life is, how powerful you are, and that love is the key.

The one thing all famous authors, world class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors, and celebrated achievers in any field have in common is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things.