Jane Yolen Professions : WriterBorn : February 11, 1939 Browse All Authors Top 73 quotes by Jane Yolen Literature is a textually transmitted disease, normally contracted in childhood. Jane Yolen childhooddiseaseliterature Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up. Jane Yolen athletewritingcharacter Childrens books change lives. Stories pour into the hearts of children and help make them what they become. Jane Yolen life-changingbookchildren It's never perfect when I write it down the first time, or the second time, or the fifth time. But it always gets better as I go over it and over it. Jane Yolen get-betterperfectwriting A book is a wonderful present. Though it may grow worn, it will never grow old. Jane Yolen worn-itmaybook Take a step, breathe in the world, give it out again in story, poem, song, art. Jane Yolen songgivingart All writers write about themselves, just as the old storytellers chose to tell stories that spoke to and about themselves. They call it the world, but it is themselves they portray. The world of which they write is like a mirror that reflects the inside of their hearts, often more truly than they know. Jane Yolen mirrorsheartwriting Love the writing, love the writing, love the writing... the rest will follow. Jane Yolen writing-lovewriting Get up from your desk and wander outside occasionally. To be a good writer one needs to be a good observer, and there isn't a lot to be observed at desk level. Jane Yolen get-uplevelsneeds Ideas are the cheapest part of the writing. They are free. The hard part is what you do with ideas you've gathered. Jane Yolen hardwritingideas I have always been jealous of artists. The smell of the studio, the names of the various tools, the look of a half-finished canvas all shout of creation. What do writers have in comparison? Only the flat paper, the clacketing of the typewriter or the scrape of a pen across a yellow page. And then, when the finished piece is presented, there is a small wonder on one hand, a manuscript smudged with erasures or crossed out lines on the other. The impact of the painting is immediate, the manuscript must unfold slowly through time. Jane Yolen jealousimpactartist Language helps develp life as surely as it reflects life. It is a most important part of our human condition. Jane Yolen languageimportanthelping If you want to write, you write. Talent is simply not enough. Jane Yolen talentwantwriting Exercise the writing muscle every day. Jane Yolen musclesexercisewriting What is a vow... but the mouth repeating what the heart has already promised? Jane Yolen vowmouthsheart The tales of Elfland do not stand or fall on their actuality but on their truthfulness, their speaking to the human condition, the longings we all have for the Faerie Other. Jane Yolen longingtalesfall Touch magic. Pass it on. Jane Yolen magic The magical story is not a microscope but a mirror, not a drop of water but a well. It is not simply one thing or two, but a multitude. It is at once both lucid and opaque, it accepts both dark and light, speaks to youth and old age. Jane Yolen lightmirrorsdark Stories," he'd said, his voice low and almost husky, "we are made up of stories. And even the one's that seem the most like lies can be our deepest hidden truths. Jane Yolen voicestorieslying The main plot line is simple: Getting your character to the foot of the tree, getting him up the tree, and then figuring out how to get him down again. Jane Yolen plot-linessimplecharacter Similar Authors Ihab Hassan writer Ingmar Bergman writer Isabella Bird writer Ivan E. Coyote writer Al Feldstein writer Bert Sugar writerAll Authors
