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James Blish told me I had the worst case of said bookism (that is, using every word except said to indicate dialogue). He told me to limit the verbs to said, replied, asked, and answered and only when absolutely necessary.

Anne McCaffrey

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Anne McCaffrey
Age: 85 †
Born: 1926
Born: April 1
Died: 2011
Died: November 21
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Cambridge
Massachusetts
Anne Inez McCaffrey
Every
Except
Answered
Necessary
James
Asked
Limit
Cases
Dialogue
Told
Using
Worst
Absolutely
Indicate
Word
Case
Verbs
Writing
Limits
Replied

More quotes by Anne McCaffrey

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Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.
Anne McCaffrey
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Who wills, Can. Who tries, Does. Who loves, Lives.
Anne McCaffrey
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I didn't raise Todd to be a writer, but he happened to be one anyway
Anne McCaffrey
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That's such a thrill - a story I wrote at the beginning of my career, and it's still packin' the house.
Anne McCaffrey
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I have always used emotion as a writing tool. That goes back to me being on the stage
Anne McCaffrey
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My eyes are green, my hair is silver and I freckly the rest is subject to change without notice.
Anne McCaffrey
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Each email contains an unsubscribe link. We will NEVER sell, rent, loan, or abuse your email address in ANY way. Writing has been so much a part of my life that I'm really quite annoyed that I can't do as much as I used to.
Anne McCaffrey
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I did not have a chance to write novels until my youngest child started school fulltime
Anne McCaffrey
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Because we build the worlds we wouldn't mind living in. They contain scary things, problems, but also a sense of rightness that makes them alive and makes us want to live there.
Anne McCaffrey
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That's what writing is all about, after all, making others see what you have put down on the page and believing that it does, or could, exist and you want to go there.
Anne McCaffrey
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I think the Internet, particularly the availability of information, is great. I do a lot of correspondence on-line and have a chat line to talk to my fans as well
Anne McCaffrey
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Tell a story! Don't try to impress your reader with style or vocabulary or neatly turned phrases. Tell the story first!
Anne McCaffrey
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How could she have believed such an artificial life as the theatre was suitable?
Anne McCaffrey
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The horse, the noblest, bravest, proudest, most courageous and certainly the most perverse and infuriating animal that humans ever domesticated
Anne McCaffrey
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I wouldn't encourage new writers to start off publishing through electronic media... it still isn't wide enough for the readership they would need to get a good start
Anne McCaffrey
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Fight only in direst need Not for lust or petty greed Honor those that do give birth Respect them well for their full worth
Anne McCaffrey
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Mostly I'm telling people that they don't have to be victims
Anne McCaffrey
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I would recommend the short story form, which is a lot harder to write since you have to be so careful with words, until there is plenty of time to doodle through a novel
Anne McCaffrey
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At age 77, I need the help of someone with more energy than I can now summon to finish a book
Anne McCaffrey
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To cry was to release all sorts of ugly little pressures and tensions. Like waking out of a long, dark dream to a sun-filled day.
Anne McCaffrey