Several Short Sentences About Writing (2012) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Without extraneous words or phrases or clauses, there will be room for implication. The longer the sentence, the less it's able to imply, And writing by implication should be one of your goals. . . That means you don't know how to use one of a writer's most important tools: The ability to suggest more than the words seem to allow, The ability to speak to the reader in silence.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “Your job as a writer is making sentences. . . did no one ever tell you this? . . . That is a writer's life. . . Most of the sentences you make will need to be killed. The rest will need to be fixed. This will be true for a long time.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “Prose isn't validated by a terminal meaning. If you love to read--as surely you must--you love being wherever you find yourself in the book you're reading, Happy to be in the presence of every sentence as it passes by, Not biding your time until the meaning comes along.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “You were being taught to manage the evidence the evidence gathered from other authorities Instead of cultivating your own—To simulate logic But not to write so clearly that What you were saying seemed self-evident.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “one of the hardest things about learning to read well is learning to believe that every sentence has been consciously, purposely shaped by the writer. This is only credible in the presence of excellent writing.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “The writer's job isn't accepting sentences. The job is making them, word by word. Volunteer sentences, Volunteer subjects, Volunteer structures. Avoid them all.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “The problem most writers face isn't writing. It's consciousness. Attention. Noticing. That includes noticing language.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “But if you accept that writing is hard work, And that's what it feels like while you're writing, Then everything is just as it should be. Your labor isn't a sign of defeat. It's a sign of engagement. The difference is all in your mind, but what a difference. The difficulty of writing isn't a sign of failure. It's simply the nature of the work itself.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “What matters isn't how fluidly the sentences are emitted. Only how good they are.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “Style is the expression of interest you take in making every sentence. . . Where ambiguity rules, there is no "style"--or anything else worth having. . . Pursue clarity instead. In the pursuit of clarity, style reveals itself. Your clarity will differ from anyone else's without your intending to make it differ.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

• “No subject is so good that it can redeem indifferent writing. But good writing can make almost any subject interesting.”

  Verlyn Klinkenborg

First Sentence edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Writing: Describe this theme.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Verlyn Klinkenborg (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PN151.K47 2012
• Dewey: 808

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Reference › Words & Language › Rhetoric