Tonight I’ve been preparing my portion of an Image and Marketing Power Team presentation we will give tomorrow morning at my local BNI chapter. So, I “googled” some writing quotations. I have to post them here… they are just too good! You may be familiar with some, hopefully there are a few new ones to ponder.
Granted, commercial writing isn’t always that glamorous – but it is writing that demands a unique kind of creativity. Besides, I still would like to author the great American novel someday!
Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don’t start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
~William Safire, “Great Rules of Writing”
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. ~Author Unknown (one of my favorites!)
There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith
Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. ~Gene Fowler
What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window. ~Burton Rascoe
The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. ~Anaïs Nin
And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all. ~Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977
I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter. ~James Michener
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~Vladimir Nabakov
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov
Surely people insist that only adverbs end in ‘ly.’ I think that’s from Safire, as well.
I’ve found more of Safire’s rules. Here is the comprehensive list so far:
* Remember to never split an infinitive.
* The passive voice should never be used.
* Do not put statements in the negative form.
* Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
* Proofread carefully to see if you words out.
* If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
* A writer must not shift your point of view.
* And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)
* Don’t overuse exclamation marks!!
* Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more, to their antecedents.
* Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
* If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
* Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
* Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
* Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
* Always pick on the correct idiom.
* The adverb always follows the verb.
* Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
* Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
* Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
* Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
* Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives.