“Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“Bad writing is more than a matter of shit syntax and faulty observation; bad writing usually arises from a stubborn refusal to tell stories about what people actually do― to face the fact, let us say, that murderers sometimes help old ladies cross the street.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“To write is human, to edit is divine.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Sarah’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Sarah’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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