A few of L. Shelby's favorite Quotes about Writing

“Regardless of what submission method you decide to use, you do not send your ms. to one place and then stop. No, no, no. Bad writer, no biscuit.” —Patricia C. Wrede

“Like happiness, real literature is something that happens when you do a good job of trying to achieve something else. ” —Joy Beeson

“...it is worth trying out even the most ridiculous-sounding recommendations for how to write, because you never know when one of them might turn out to work for you.” —Patricia C. Wrede

“You're a writer; you're supposed to be creative; make up your own system.” —Patricia C. Wrede

“When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” —C. S. Lewis

“Romance should happen between two characters, not a character and a plot contrivance. ” —L. Shelby

“Trust your demon.” —Roger Zelazny

“I know professional writers who outline, who don't outline, who start at the beginning, in the middle, at the end, who start with characters, with plot, with setting, with theme, with idea, who develop whatever bits they're missing in every order imaginable. And they all write books that sell, and many of them win awards.” —Patricia C. Wrede

“Editors do not do house-to-house searches for manuscripts.” —Patricia C. Wrede

“I don't care what happens to these people!” —The Eight Deadly Words (Dorothy Heydt)

“...the common advice to “murder your darlings” does not mean that you are supposed to go through your manuscript and take out every single thing in it that you actually like. If you don’t like what you write, why should anyone else like it?” —Patricia C. Wrede

“Character shaped objects with a few personality traits slapped on them tend not to be as bright as real people. That's just the way it goes.” —L. Shelby

“The writer should always reserve the right to have a better idea.” —Lois McMaster Bujold

“There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays,
And every single one of them is right!” —In the Neolithic Age by Rudyard Kipling

“Suddenly I'm getting the horrible feeling someone who won a National Book Award has recommended no more than two pronouns per book. With pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, similes and alliteration eliminated, how long till we can't use nouns and verbs? How long till books contain nothing but prepositions?” —Evil Editor

“...on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary.” —James Nicoll