“Character is the very life of fiction. Setting exists only so that the character has someplace to stand. Plot exists so the… — John Gardner Character Copy Share Image
“This highest kind of truth is never something the artist takes as given. It's not his point of departure but his goal.… — John Gardner Art Copy Share Image
“Don’t be fooled by clever hands, sir” the Sunlight Man said. He’d be lying with the back of his head on his… — John Gardner Copy Share Image
“The best way a writer can find to keep himself going is to live off his (or her) spouse. The trouble is… — John Gardner Dependence Copy Share Image
“When a writer first begins to write, he or she feels the same first thrill of achievement that the young gambler or… — John Gardner Adventure Copy Share Image
“Sometimes when one cannot stand the story or novel one is working on, it helps to write something else—a different story or… — John Gardner Books Copy Share Image
“Writer's block comes from the feeling that one is doing the wrong thing or doing the right thing badly. Fiction written for… — John Gardner Art Copy Share Image
“I think there really is no other way to write a long, serious novel. You work, shelve it for a while, work,… — John Gardner Books Copy Share Image
“The writer's characters must stand before us with a wonderful clarity, such continuous clarity that nothing they do strikes us as improbable… — John Gardner Character Copy Share Image
“Like other kinds of intelligence, the storyteller's is partly natural, partly trained. It is composed of several qualities, most of which, in… — John Gardner Dirty joke Copy Share Image
“The instruction here is not for every kind of writer - not for the writer of nurse books or thrillers or porno… — John Gardner Authors Copy Share Image
“Sentimentality, in all its forms, is the attempt to get some effect without providing due cause. (I take it for granted that… — John Gardner Sentimentality Copy Share Image
“What the young writer needs to develop, to achieve his goal of becoming a great artist, is not a set of aesthetic… — John Gardner Art Copy Share Image
“A scene will not be vivid if the writer gives too few details to stir and guide the reader's imagination; neither will… — John Gardner Books Copy Share Image
“The shoddy writer wants only publication. He fails to recognize that almost anyone willing to devote between twelve and fourteen hours a… — John Gardner Books Copy Share Image
“Another bad cure is the sentence awkwardly stretched out by a "that" or "which" clause. For example, "Leaping from the couch he… — John Gardner Copy Share Image
“But she was beautiful and she surrendered herself with the dignity of a sacrificial virgin. My chest was full of pain, my… — John Gardner Beauty Copy Share Image
“A good writer is likely to know and use, or find out and use, the words for common architectural features, like "lintel,"… — John Gardner Family Copy Share Image
