The Best Of: Author Excerpt Series
The best of: Author excerpt series.
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There are so many incredible writers, so much talent, and too many books to ever try to read them all. I thought, in light of that fact, it would be nice to share some of the best of the best. Quick little hints of what lies inside the pages of some of the books from my favorite authors.
JK Rowling:
“Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.
“After all this time?”
“Always,” said Snape.
~ JK Rowling, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
English: J. K. Rowling, after receiving an honorary degree from The University of Aberdeen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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The Best Of: Author Excerpt Series
The best of: Author excerpt series.
*******
There are so many incredible writers, so much talent, and too many books to ever try to read them all. I thought, in light of that fact, it would be nice to share some of the best of the best. Quick little hints of what lies inside the pages of some of the books from my favorite authors.
First up, the amazing, Neil Gaiman.
“I think I fell in love with her, a little bit. Isn’t that dumb? But it was like I knew her. Like she was my oldest, dearest friend. The kind of person you can tell anything to, no matter how bad, and they’ll still love you, because they know you. I wanted to go with her. I wanted her to notice me. And then she stopped walking. Under the moon, she stopped. And looked at us. She looked at me. Maybe she was trying to tell me something; I don’t know. She probably didn’t even know I was there. But I’ll always love her. All my life.”
~ Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 8: World’s End
Neil Gaiman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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It is not the critic who counts …
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
~ Teddy Roosevelt
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Anything In Life Worth Having …
“Anything in life worth having is worth fighting for.”
~ Susan Elizabeth Phillips
As TIED went live two weeks early (Amazon only so far), I’m reminded of this quote. Of how true it is.
So, don’t give up, or give in, or walk away. Fight for what you want, work for it—believe in it.
Don’t be afraid to take the chance.
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The Only Thing That Can Make You A Writer …
Really, in the end, the only thing that can make you a writer is the person that you are, the intensity of your feeling, the honesty of your vision, the unsentimental acknowledgment of the endless interest of the life around and within you. Virtually nobody can help you deliberately — many people will help you unintentionally.
– Santha Rama Rau
*Originally posted October, 2012
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Writing A Novel Is Like …
“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
-E.L. Doctorow
E.L. Doctorow (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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We Who Make Stories …
“We who make stories know that we tell lies for a living. But they are good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to build them as best we can. Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story. Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person. And who with that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort. And that is why we write.”
~Neil Gaiman — The Graveyard Book
** I am a such a Neil Gaiman fan if you guys haven’t noticed.
Neil Gaiman, signing (Photo credit: Jutta @ flickr)
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- Put One Word After Another: Neil Gaiman’s Eight Rules of Writing (aerogrammestudio.com)
- Neil Gaiman Drops Knowledge (mentalfloss.com)
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Fantasy Is Hardly An Escape …
“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.”
~ Lloyd Alexander
Omega Point Dark Fantasy Mysterious World (Photo credit: Liqueur Felix)
Related articles
- Fantastic reality (fingerprintskavita.wordpress.com)
- “Even Nothing Cannot Last Forever” (thesecretkeeper.net)
- “Fantasy is esc… (deathofanauthor.com)
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… If You’re Brave Enough …
“Some of this book — perhaps too much — has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it — and perhaps the best of it — is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.”
~Stephen King (On Writing~A Memoir of the Craft)
Stephen King, American author best known for his enormously popular horror novels. King was the 2003 recipient of The National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Taken at the 2007 New York Comicon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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May Your Coming Year Be Filled With Magic …
“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”
~ Neil Gaiman
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Imagination, Not Invention …
Only in men’s imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.
~ Joseph Conrad
English: Joseph Conrad Print Collection portrait file. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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If You Dare Nothing …
“If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.”
~ Neil Gaiman (The Graveyard Book)
The Graveyard Book (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Related articles
- We Who Make Stories … (laneymcmann.com)
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Everybody Has A Secret World …
“Everybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody — no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them they’ve all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds… Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe.”
~Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol: 5, A Game Of You
Neil Gaiman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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St. Valentine’s Day
“No, I don’t think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.”
One of THE best lines ever written in my opinion. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. 😉
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Fear Stops Most People …
“If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent. Who am I? What right have I to speak? Who will listen to me? You are a human being with a unique story to tell. You have every right.”
– Richard Rhodes
Richard Rhodes 2 (Photo credit: afagen)
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Promises
We make so many promises as writers with a hope we can fulfill them all.
~Laney McMann
**As I sit finishing my final blurb for TIED, I’m reminded of this fact. Thought I’d share it.
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Always Dream
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know how to. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
William Faulkner, 1954 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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You Must Be Prepared …
“You must be prepared to work always without applause.”
~Ernest Hemingway
English: Hemingway posing for a dust jacket photo by Lloyd Arnold for the first edition of “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, at the Sun Valley Lodge, Idaho, late 1939. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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It Is Impossible To Live Without Failing …
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”
~j.K. Rowling
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Anything Is Possible …
“Anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”
~ J. K. Rowling
English: J. K. Rowling, after receiving an honorary degree from The University of Aberdeen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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The Treasure That You Seek
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.”
Joseph Campbell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Everyone Has Talent …
Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.
~Erica Long
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I Believe
“I believe legends and myths are largely made of truth …”
~ Tolkien
Tolkien’s monogram, and Tolkien Estate trademark (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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It’s Always Too Early …
“It’s always too early to quit.”
–Norman Vincent Peale
Norman Vincent Peale, Christian preacher and author of The Power of Positive Thinking (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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