Quote

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
Style
Story
Tell
Neatly
Stories
Vocabulary
Firsts
Impress
First
Phrases
Writing
Turned
Trying
Reader

More quotes by Anne McCaffrey

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A real scientist solves problems, not wails that they are unsolvable.
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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Make no judgments where you have no compassion.
Anne McCaffrey
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I didn't mean to stay up all night to finish Windhaven, but I had to!
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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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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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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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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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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The blackest night must end in dawn, the light dispel the dreamer's fear.
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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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 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'm very fond of the Talent series, and also the Crystal Singer trio.
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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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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But Ship Who Sang remains my favorite story. I really rocked folks with that and still cannot read it aloud myself without weeping at the end
Anne McCaffrey
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The thing is, emotion - if it's visibly felt by the writer - will go through all the processes it takes to publish a story and still hit the reader right in the gut. But you have to really mean it.
Anne McCaffrey
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Drummer, beat, and piper, blowHarper, strike, and soldier, goFree the flame and sear the grassesTil the dawning Red Star passes
Anne McCaffrey