James Blish told me I had the worst case of "said bookism" (that is, using every word except said to indicate dialogue). He told me to limit the verbs to said, replied, asked, and answered and only when absolutely necessary. Anne McCaffrey More Quotes by Anne McCaffrey More Quotes From Anne McCaffrey I have a shelf of comfort books, which I read when the world closes in on me or something untoward happens Anne McCaffrey comfort book world Make no judgments where you have no compassion. Anne McCaffrey compassion spiritual inspirational Living is struggling to do something impossible; Anne McCaffrey succeed knowing struggle How much can a dragon carry? Anne McCaffrey dragons thinking Above us, outlined against the brilliant sky, dragons crowded every available perching space on the Rim. And the sun made a gold of every one of them. Anne McCaffrey dragons space sky Tell a story! Don't try to impress your reader with style or vocabulary or neatly turned phrases. Tell the story first! Anne McCaffrey style vocabulary writing The blackest night must end in dawn, the light dispel the dreamer's fear. Anne McCaffrey dreamer light night Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences. Anne McCaffrey using-words together writing Who wills, Anne McCaffrey trying inspirational life Because we build the worlds we wouldn't mind living in. They contain scary things, problems, but also a sense of rightness that makes them alive and makes us want to live there. Anne McCaffrey halloween scary mind I do outlines when I'm writing with someone, but they also need to have a certain amount of freedom Anne McCaffrey certain writing needs Step by step Anne McCaffrey another-day moments steps Mostly I'm telling people that they don't have to be victims Anne McCaffrey victim people But I will say that living in Ireland has changed the cadence and fullness of speech, since the Irish love words and use as many of them in a sentence as possible Anne McCaffrey cadence speech use I didn't mean to stay up all night to finish Windhaven, but I had to! Anne McCaffrey up-all-night night mean I have always used emotion as a writing tool. That goes back to me being on the stage Anne McCaffrey emotion tools writing I think writers need windows on a view to remind them that a whole world is out there, not the minutiae with which they might be dealing on a close scale Anne McCaffrey views needs thinking Fight only in direst need Anne McCaffrey greed fighting giving I would recommend the short story form, which is a lot harder to write since you have to be so careful with words, until there is plenty of time to doodle through a novel Anne McCaffrey form stories writing At age 77, I need the help of someone with more energy than I can now summon to finish a book Anne McCaffrey energy age book
