Writer Wednesday: "Try Again. Fail Again" And Other Advice To Writers (PHOTOS)

The hardest part is to keep going, and every writer knows it. The best have left their words of wisdom to help the rest of us plod along. We loved these from Advice To Writers.
Let us know your favorites by voting in the slideshow and if we've left out one you love, leave it in the comments section below.

1 of 14

Willa Sibert Cather

1 of 15

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

"Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen."

The Origins Of 7 Popular Slang Words

What Are The Most Well-Read Cities In America?

Eating Badly: 7 Consequences Of Fast Food

Leadership Advice: 9 Things Obama Could Learn From Caesar

7 Things You Need To Know Before You Get Married

Processed Food: 9 Nasty Truths About The Meals You Eat (PHOTOS)

"Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen."

comments(86)

Total comments: 86 | Post a Comment

1 of 15

This Tweet

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

I'm not inspired. Great writing quote!

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Top 5 Tweets

loading...

Top 5 Tweets

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[joeyfoto]

04:30 AM on 04/17/2011

My favorite quotation on writers is from Daniel J. Langton, poet, writer, reporter and teacher, who once said to an undergraduate poetry writing class as S.F. State: "Students come to teachers for encouragement to be writers. My advice is: 'Don't do it.' The only good reason to be a writer is because you must."

[dahpunkster]

09:34 PM on 04/16/2011

once went to a conferance and one of the speakers said not to just write about what you know, write what you care about. If you don't know enough about your passion research it until you do.
That has stuck with me.

[dahpunkster]

11:35 PM on 04/15/2011

I conceive that the right way to write a story for boys is to write so that it will not only interest boys but strongly interest any man who has ever been a boy. That immensely enlarges the audience.
mark twain

[dead WASP]

06:27 AM on 04/15/2011

"It's never too late to be what you might have been."

*Words to live by.

[portrait of a lady]

02:26 PM on 04/14/2011

I am on my third re-write! I must say, I never knew re-writing could be so rewarding. I think I have a few to go.

I am only writing this book for myself though I whisper in my ear that it's a book that should be out there. It's a novel but it will speak to women. For now I can wait until it's finished and then make a decision. Right now it's pure joy to put pencil to paper and then from paper to the computer.

[dead WASP]

06:28 AM on 04/15/2011

Don't ever give up!

[joeyfoto]

04:40 AM on 04/17/2011

Many years ago, I taught a class called: "Creative Writing and Re-Writing."

I loved your comment: "I never knew re-writing could be so rewarding."

Jack Kerouac aside, rewriting is the key to taking responsibility for our inspiration.

Although there is a Kerouac quote that I like very much: "Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.”

Fanned...jt

[ChrisRoberts]

08:04 PM on 04/13/2011

Writerly advice is the same as NO advice. Stimulation in the form of anti-social acts, bank robbery, stick-ups, wanton destruction of personal property is the only way. Why would I take direction from a bunch of dead or half-dead authors? I won't because you can't learn from the past.

[proggirl]

11:59 AM on 04/14/2011

"you can't learn from the past."
Well, as Sanytana observed, you are then condemned to repeat the past, more fool you.

[ChrisRoberts]

05:47 PM on 04/14/2011

Fool never. A fool to believe that for one second I think you can't learn from the past, of course you can, just as long as it's MY past. Game, set, match.

[joeyfoto]

04:46 AM on 04/17/2011

Sounds like you've been learning bollix from dead Anarchists...

That definitely demands a commitment to refuse the lessons of the past... Maybe it will work out differently for you than it ever has in all of history... bit, I wouldn't bet my life on it.

[ChrisRoberts]

10:17 AM on 04/17/2011

Your response is committed to static, that's bollix Cockney Boy.

[Grokenspiel]

07:53 PM on 04/13/2011

It's absolutely crucial that aspiring writers read everything they can get their hands on about the craft of writing, as well as listen attentively as experts inveigh about writing. Moreover, participation in writers' workshops is extremely important; workshops are ideal places to rub shoulders with other aspiring writers to discuss writing. These activities form the foundation of professional writing. Only after doing all these things -- and they may take many years to do -- will one be ready to actually write.

Many novice writers make the mistake of trying to write without having first laid this critical foundation. They just dig right in, without regard for accepted, established procedure. They justify jumping the gun by claiming that they are "driven to write," that they "have something to say," and that they're "learning by doing." As if the process of writing is educational! Sadly, it's a common misconception. Anyone who knows anything will attest that there's only one, sure way to learn to write, only one, true path: ceaseless talking about writing, reading about writing, and listening to others pontificate about writing. And then perhaps the aspiring writer will be qualified for the pinnacle of the profession: writing about writing.

[Frederick Hudson]

03:38 PM on 04/13/2011

The most humbling aspect of writing is to admit when you have been chosen to receive an insight, a metaphor, a sign and realize that no one else in the universe may ever enter that portal; thus this door is a sacred opening, to be explored, to be explained, to be sustained for those who we may never meet.

Frederick Hudson

[ChrisRoberts]

08:07 PM on 04/13/2011

Oh, God! That is the very definition of trite. Maybe you can get a job writing for Urban Dictionary or a really bad greeting card company. Don't look back, you'll turn to stone.

[SadDracula]

02:19 PM on 04/13/2011

Zen In The Art Of Writing is a detailed, informative read by Ray Bradbury that offers great advice. Highly recommend it.

[portrait of a lady]

02:32 PM on 04/14/2011

Actually, though I've never read Stephen King's novels or seen his movies, I absolutely worship his book on writing. The other two books on writing that are a must are How to Write a Dam Good Novel and WTWADGN II by James. N. Frey. ( That's not the infamous Frey.)

[Walter M Roberts III]

02:10 PM on 04/13/2011

Four of my favorites from Nietzsche:

"Good writers write their thoughts; bad writers write the thinking of their thoughts"

"Why do I write? How else am I to get rid of my thoughts"

"All philosophy is concealed autobiography"

"Those who wish to appear profound, strive for obscurity; those who are profound, strive for clarity."

[ChrisRoberts]

08:11 PM on 04/13/2011

Another one. You didn't know Nietzsche, why quote him? He has no idea who you are, he's D-E-A-D. How do you know that was what he said exactly? You do him an injustice and if I were the executor of his estate I would challenge you to a duel, ten paces, turn and fire!!

[doglove]

12:34 AM on 04/14/2011

What are you high on?

[triplettam]

09:46 AM on 04/14/2011

An example of your writing? "It's never too late to be what you could have been." You should think about THAT instead of: "I post, therefore I am."

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

01:47 PM on 04/13/2011

There is a little bit of Michael Gabriel in all of us. Read the awesome reviews and read for yourself the story of a Man trying to find his way home and the people who help him along the way! Check out my first new eBook novel "Take Me Home" by Richard Custer

http://amzn.to/gudQfD Amazon
http://amzn.to/dFQCiV U.K. Amazon
http://bit.ly/eCQg6Q Barnes and Nobel
http://bit.ly/gNYQU0 Smashwords

[ChrisRoberts]

08:00 PM on 04/13/2011

Are you still hawking that pablum? Get some self-respect, even if you have to buy some. 3x3

[PrincePlanet1967]

08:13 PM on 04/13/2011

OMG! Mr. Stalker is at it again! Your jealousy know no bounds! At least when I do a Google of X's book, I will get a lots of hits. You couldn't even solicit your own family to buy your books! LOL!! Pathetic LOSERS!!!! How's those 9 fans working for ya? LMAO!!

[PrincePlanet1967]

08:15 PM on 04/13/2011

Are you still following X like a love-sick puppy? At least I can Google him and find multiple hits. You probably couldn't get your own family to buy "What's your book called again?" LOL!!

So sad!!!! And how's those 9 fans working for ya!

[sean0008]

01:31 PM on 04/13/2011

No Hemingway? He wrote more famous advice about writing than just about anyone I can think of. In fact I highly recommend "Ernest Hemingway on Writing" edited by Larry Phillips. It's an entertaining read full of clever quips and practical advice. I like Hemingway's advice because it is inspiring without being annoyingly positive. He certainly liked to dramatize the difficulty of writing well, which makes me feel better when I'm struggling. It reminds me that even the greats struggled.

[TheBaffler]

03:49 PM on 04/13/2011

Taking advice from Hemingway on writing would be like listening to Bush on good governance.

[sean0008]

06:04 PM on 04/13/2011

To each is own, but of course many of his novels and short stories are considered classics. I took a lot of literature and writing classes in high school and college, and I think Hemingway was studied in every single one of them. Many writers and professors praise Hemingway's minimalist style as elegant and efficient, and an interesting departure from the 19th century English novels many students also read. Of course there are always disagreements and debates about every author or artist.

"When critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself." - Oscar Wilde

[portrait of a lady]

02:35 PM on 04/14/2011

I think that A Moveable Feast is the best thing Hemingway wrote. I have a worn copy in my classic's bookcase where it will remain as long as I live.

[Mary Daugherty]

12:41 PM on 04/13/2011

revise, revise, revise.......revise........If I could stop revising, I may be able to get a novel completed.

[cyeko]

01:14 PM on 04/13/2011

Yeah, right!!

[TrotskyMemo]

01:16 PM on 04/13/2011

Ha, you could feasibly revise into infinity. Every revision is a step down, I always say.

[dick caveat]

12:22 PM on 04/13/2011

"The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of one's trousers to the seat of one's chair." - Kingsley Amis

[Zeta Reticuli]

11:56 AM on 04/13/2011

And very soon Snookie !

[TrotskyMemo]

01:16 PM on 04/13/2011

"When you party like I party, the words write themselves."