12th July 2016 | for Creatives | artist integrity, creative fear, writing, Donald Maass, creative freedom |
"When other novelists unsettle us, we praise them. Yet when our own writing unsettles us, we worry."
"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything good."
"Cast off the fear. I was terrified about writing stories about where I came from because I was embarrassed. Truly great writers are not afraid to bare their souls. Sometimes you may feel like: 'I shouldn't have put that in there, I don't want people to think it's about me or look at me differently.' Toss those thoughts aside. That's a mental block. Don't think about it. Just do it. As long as you write from a place of purity, and it comes from your heart, you can't go wrong."
"Have the courage to go forth and do not what everybody else is doing but what you want to do."
"The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.)"
"I think the word is fearless because once writers start editing how they do what they do or what they're writing about, I think you've already lost what you need to be doing. So I think being a writer is emotionally brave, and if you can't go there, maybe you're not ready to do it yet."
Don't miss a single, riveting word! Be the first to hear of new releases, special promotions, and other news and nifty things...