three rules

W. Somerset Maugham said:

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

There’s always a period early in the evolution of a new novel where I’m absolutely sure that I’m done and finished and will never write again and I’m about jumping out of my skin with agitation. But somebody else (can’t remember who) said: if there’s a story in you, it has to come out. I’ve been through this so often now that I know that’s true. It just doesn’t feel true right now.

The best part of writing is stopping. Or it would be, if I could.

12. November 2003 by ?

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4 Responses

  1. Christina says:
    13. November 2003 at 10:04 am

    Are we a bit flummoxed? The one I really like is an E.L. Doctorow quote: “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

    Of course, if you’re going to get picky and want a roadmap or freak lightning storm to show you more, you’re out of luck [g].

  2. sara says:
    13. November 2003 at 12:14 pm

    good quote, Christina. I have it on my list.

  3. Barbara says:
    15. November 2003 at 10:07 am

    Here’s one of my favorite quotes about reading…

    “Virgins and matrons, reading these my rimes,
    Shall be so much delighted with thy story
    They shall grieve they lived not in these times”
    Michael Drayton, British poet

  4. sara says:
    15. November 2003 at 11:14 am

    Barbara, that is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful quote. Thanks

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My name is Rosina Lippi. I'm a former academic and tenured university professor,  writing full time since 2000. Under the pen name Sara Donati I am the author of the Wilderness series, six historical novels that follow the fortunes of a group of families living in upstate New York from about 1792-1825. A new series based on later generations of the same families was launched September 1, 2015 with The Gilded Hour. The next volume in the new series,  Where the Light Enters, was  released in 2019.

 

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Wise Guys

If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it at an hour when it isn’t expecting it.

— H.G. Wells (attributed), Sir Osbert Sitwell
See the whole Wise Guys collection here.