#kcawf original

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

A cool thing about writing is that the better you get at it, the more you're aware of what you want out of it, which means it gets harder, which means you actually feel like you're getting worse.

And by "cool thing," I mean "what the fuck, man"

– Sam Sykes

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

The allure of AI entices those people who fetishize ideas but dismiss the work. They're the people who tell writers, "I'll give you the idea, then you write it, and we'll split the profits." For them, the vision is everything, and the work is just an annoying obstacle. But the WORK is everything. The work is how a thing happens, where it's made, where skill is put to work. AI in creativity is for the people who have no skill, no work, no effort, no ethic. They just want to push a button.

– Chuck Wendig

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

🔘 I'm in this photo and I don't like it

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

Fiction writers: it's ok to pull back the narrative lens and let go of play-by-play details in a scene. (Only rely on sensory details in moments that have narrative significance.) Get more comfortable summarizing and manipulating time. Don't plod through time. Get in front of it.

– Heidi Pitlor

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

Reminder that fantasy is (most often) set in an alternate world inspired loosely by our own medieval history. Fantasy is, however, not historical fiction. Fantasy is not set on our Earth or bound by Earth’s rules and history. You can remove the racism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia if you want. It’s not a requirement. 🫠 (x)

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

If you need motivation to hit your NaNoWriMo word count, then I want you to write as if these guys will finish your story for you if you don’t write it fast enough. (x)

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

Anyone who wants to write, can. It isn't an arcane art. You don't have to be born with a particular skill set. You just think in a quiet place, come up with something you want to say, then put it down on paper somehow. The more you do it, the better you will be. That's it.

– C. Robert Cargill

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

Being self critical [sic] is for editing, not writing. Writing is when you throw anything at the wall and see what sticks. They are two different practices that should be practiced separately. Write first, edit later.

– C. Robert Cargill

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

You can only write regularly if you’re willing to write badly. You can’t write regularly and well. One should accept bad writing as a way of priming the pump, a warm-up exercise that allows you to write well.

– Jennifer Egan

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

Every sentence must do one of two things: reveal character or advance the action.

– Kurt Vonnegut

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

Write. Start writing today. Start writing right now. Don’t write it right, just write it―and then make it right later.

– Tara Moss

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

Expecting a short-story writer to be able to write great novels is like expecting a great painter to have a facility with sculpture. It’s cool if they do, but if they don’t, it doesn’t make them any less of a painter.

– Angela Flournoy

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

Fiction is not a luxury for privileged people. Fiction is for the homeless reading it at the public library, the prisoners reading it in jail, the sick reading it alone in a hospital.

When life becomes too much, a little escapism becomes a necessity.

– Icona (@/iconawrites)

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

The process of doing your second draft is a process of making it look like you knew what you were doing all along.

– Neil Gaiman

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

The authority of the writer always overcomes the skepticism of the reader. If you know what you’re talking about, or if you feel that you do, the reader will believe you.

– Nikki Giovanni

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

The great thing about a short story is that it doesn’t have to trawl through someone’s whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side.

– Emma Donoghue