Long before the idea of a writer's conference was a glimmer in anyone's eye, writers learned by reading the work of their predecessors. They studied meter with Ovid, plot construction with Homer, comedy with Aristophanes; they honed their prose style… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
Like most-maybe all- writers, I learned to write by writing and, by example, by reading books. — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“I'm out of the equation, an innocent bystander at the major love affair Joan is having with Joan” — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
I went through college in the 1960s without having any idea that I was going to have to make a living. When I graduated… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another. — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“She emerges from the station directly across from the restaurant. And she's right on time. Like magic, Sonya thinks, briefly saddened to realize that… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“Like, for example, sleeve length. Should he hide the tattoos? Or just wear a T-shirt and let "them" do the talking? If one picture's… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“Consequently, we sympathize. We identify. We care. In fact, most writers would like you to identify” — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“A woman would have to be crazy to marry, or even have sex with, a man who would prosecute every lover’s quarrel like a… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
I know a lot of Eastern Europeans, and because of what they have been through and what they have seen, they have an attitude… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“I’ve always thought that a close-reading course should at least be a companion, if not an alternative, to the writing workshop. Though it also… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“Not all great writers may seem great to us, regardless of how often and how hard we try to see their virtues. I know,… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
'One Hundred Years of Solitude' convinced me to drop out of Harvard graduate school. The novel reminded me of everything my Ph.D. program was… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“Maybe real love is being able to ask, Do I have greens in my teeth?” — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
With this recitation of paraphernalia and detritus, O'Brien manages to encapsulate the experience of an army and of a particular war, of a mined… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“The repetitions, meaningless expressions, stammers, and nonsensical monosyllables with which we express hesitation, along with the clichés and banalities that constitute so much of… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
