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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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Anne McCaffrey
Age: 85 †
Born: 1926
Born: April 1
Died: 2011
Died: November 21
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Cambridge
Massachusetts
Anne Inez McCaffrey
Writing
Turned
Trying
Reader
Style
Story
Tell
Neatly
Stories
Vocabulary
Firsts
Impress
First
Phrases

More quotes by 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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I also don't have organized religion on Pern. I figured - since there were four holy wars going on at the time of writing - that religion was one problem Pern didn't need.
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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Fear has its uses but cowardice has none.
Anne McCaffrey
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I do outlines when I'm writing with someone, but they also need to have a certain amount of freedom
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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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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I don't often reread my own books, unless I am going into another in the series and need to refresh my mood when originating the concept
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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I have a shelf of comfort books, which I read when the world closes in on me or something untoward happens
Anne McCaffrey
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Make no judgments where you have no compassion.
Anne McCaffrey
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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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The blackest night must end in dawn, the light dispel the dreamer's fear.
Anne McCaffrey
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What I used to do between writing fits was feed my kids, ride my horse and go shopping for cat and dog food.
Anne McCaffrey
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People have freaked out when I tell them that my dragons are scientifically based... what else can you call a genetically engineered life form?
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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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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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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Living is struggling to do something impossible To succeed or die, knowing that you had tried.
Anne McCaffrey