Authors:

James N. Frey Quotes

Writer's block is real. It happens. Some days you sit down at the old typewriter, put your fingers on the keys, and nothing pops into your head. Blanko. Nada. El nothingissimo. What you do when this happens is what

Writer's block is real. It happens. Some days you sit down at the old typewriter, put your fingers on the keys, and nothing pops into your head. Blanko. Nada. El nothingissimo. What you do when this happens is what separates you from the one-of-thesedays- I'm-gonna-write-a-book crowd.

James N. Frey
Block, Real, Book
James N. Frey (2010). “How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling”, p.168, St. Martin's Press

To set a forest on fire, you light a match. To set a character on fire, you put him in conflict.

James N. Frey
Character, Fire, Light
James N. Frey (2010). “How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling”, p.58, Macmillan

Novel writing is like heroin addiction; it takes everything you've got.

James N. Frey
Writing, Addiction, Heroin

You will never work through writer's block if you walk away from your typewriter. That will only make it easier to walk away the next time.

James N. Frey
Block, Typewriters, Next
James N. Frey (2010). “How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling”, p.168, St. Martin's Press

All good plots come from well-orchestrated characters pitted against one another in a conflict of wills.

James N. Frey
Writing, Character, Plot

The opposing missions of the various characters create the plot.

James N. Frey
Writing, Character, Plot

When characters have different goals and are intent on achieving them, conflict results. If the stakes are high and both sides are unyielding, you have the makings of high drama.

James N. Frey
Drama, Character, Goal
James N. Frey (2010). “How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling”, p.31, Macmillan

Fiction writers come up with some interesting metaphors when speaking of plot. Some say the plot is the highway and the characters are the automobiles. Others talk about stories that are "plot-driven," as if the plot were neither the highway nor the automobile, but the chauffeur. Others seem to have plot phobia and say they never plot. Still others turn up their noses at the very notion, as if there's something artificial, fraudulent, contrived.

James N. Frey
Character, Writing, Interesting

For some it is harder to write a novel than to row a bathtub across the North Atlantic.

James N. Frey
Writing, Novel, Harder
James N. Frey (2010). “How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling”, p.151, Macmillan

It has been said that Ernest Hemingway would rewrite scenes until they pleased him, often thirty or forty times. Hemingway, critics claimed, was a genius. Was it his genius that drove him to work hard, or was it hard work that resulted in works of genius?

James N. Frey
Hard Work, Genius, Scene
James N. Frey (2010). “How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling”, p.160, Macmillan

It is possible to combine a story line and plot line in the same work. Usually the storylines comes first, serving as a background to the plot line, but not always.

James N. Frey
Writing, Plot Lines, Stories

You May Also Like: