Mark Twain Quotes

It behooves us to avoid archaisms. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

I think in most cases, unless you're writing about a character who is garrulous, you say what you've got to say and then get out. Those little conjunctions, those little turnaround words help you do it. That's the way I like to write: I get rid of things rather than add them.

Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.

My sentences tend to be very short and rather spare. I'm more your paragraph kind of gal.

I write. This is what I do. My job is to sit down with my vocabulary, select words, and decide what order they should be placed in an attempt to keep someone's attention and perhaps provide them with a laugh or two along the way.

I'm tired of wasting letters when punctuation will do, period.

Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words.

Before the scene, before the paragraph, even before the sentence, comes the word. Individual words and phrases are the building blocks of fiction, the genes that generate everything else. Use the right words, and your fiction can blossom. The French have a phrase for it - le mot juste - the exact right word in the exact right position.

If you consistently write 'The sun set' rather than 'The sun sank slowly in the bright western sky,' your story will move three times as fast. Of course, there are times you want the longer version for atmosphere - but not many. Wordiness not only kills pace; it bores readers.

In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style.

One mistake with beginners in writing is, that they think it important to spin out something long. It is a great deal better not to write more than a page or two, unless you have something to say, and can write it correctly.

I've really tried to strip my writing of as many adjectives and adverbs as I possibly can.

Adverbs lead to overwriting. Try taking them out and reading your prose again to see how it sounds. Simple and less words are more powerful.

Why say 'utilize' when you can say 'use'?

I cannot write long books; I leave that for those who have nothing to say.

Most writers write too much. I have the exact opposite problem. I feel I could write almost anything in a paragraph. I have a natural ability to condense, and so I often think, "Are you kidding me? Five thousand words? How am I gonna make 5,000 words out of that?"

All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another.

The best advice on writing I've ever received was from William Zinsser: 'Be grateful for every word you can cut.'

I usually write very few stage directions. I think a lot of that is a waste of time. The art of screenwriting is in its terseness, saying a lot with a little. I have no patience when I read a script where the writer describes this guy and what he's wearing and his glasses and his hair.

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Make no mistake, those who write long books have nothing to say. Of course those who write short books have even less to say.

As to the adjective: when in doubt, strike it out.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue... I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated" and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This is like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes. The pet is embarrassed and the person who committed this act of premeditated cuteness should be even more embarrassed.