![](\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Notes_on_Writing_Cover.jpg\" "\\"Notes_on_Writing_Cover\\"")
<\/a>These note\u00adbooks are my Cliffs Notes<\/em> of every (good) book or arti\u00adcle I\u2019ve read about writ\u00ading, and they\u2019ve proved invalu\u00adable over the years. Before start\u00ading a new project, rather than reread all of those books and arti\u00adcles, I sim\u00adply reread the note\u00adbooks, giv\u00ading myself a refresh\u00ader course on sto\u00adry craft, char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adi\u00adza\u00adtion, punc\u00adtu\u00ada\u00adtion, inspi\u00adra\u00adtion, gram\u00admar and much more.<\/p>\nThese note\u00adbooks are my secret weapon as a writer.<\/p>\n
They are part\u00adly respon\u00adsi\u00adble for the excel\u00adlent reviews my Dako\u00adta Stevens Mys\u00adtery Series has been garnering\u2014reviews like, \u201cThis book is mag\u00adic\u201d and \u201cAnoth\u00ader one out of the park\u201d and \u201cReal life took a back\u00adseat dur\u00ading the two days I was read\u00ading each of these books.\u201d (Shame\u00adless plug: Book #1, A Real Piece of Work<\/em>, is avail\u00adable here<\/a>, and Book #2, The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>, here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n I reread my \u201cNotes on Writ\u00ading\u201d before I start any major project, and I\u2019m con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous\u00adly adding to these note\u00adbooks from new books and arti\u00adcles. I also steal lib\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly from my writer and artist friends, jot\u00adting down their own wis\u00addom with\u00adout their knowl\u00adedge, remind\u00ading myself that Picas\u00adso said, \u201cGood artists bor\u00adrow, but great artists steal.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a lot of work, and you have to be dili\u00adgent about tedious things like copy\u00ading quotes and get\u00adting the titles and by-lines right, but in the end it\u2019s worth it: you have your own go-to writ\u00ading resource. You nev\u00ader have to ask your\u00adself, \u201cWhere did I read that excel\u00adlent pas\u00adsage on char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adi\u00adza\u00adtion?\u201d You nev\u00ader have to ask your\u00adself that because, if it\u2019s excel\u00adlent, it will be in your notebook(s).<\/p>\n To help you get start\u00aded with a note\u00adbook of your own (if you don\u2019t already have one), I\u2019m going to share a few entries from mine. Fol\u00adlow\u00ading are only a frac\u00adtion of the quotes and ideas I\u2019ve col\u00adlect\u00aded (I\u2019m not giv\u00ading you all of my best secrets), but these exam\u00adples should be enough to inspire you to start col\u00adlect\u00ading your own, and I strong\u00adly rec\u00adom\u00admend that you do.<\/p>\n Bet\u00adsy Lern\u00ader, edi\u00adtor & agent:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIf you are strug\u00adgling with what you should be writ\u00ading, look at your scraps. Encod\u00aded there are the times and sub\u00adjects that you should be grap\u00adpling with as a writer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Kurt Von\u00adnegut:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMake your char\u00adac\u00adters want some\u00adthing right away\u2014even if it\u2019s only a glass of water. Char\u00adac\u00adters par\u00ada\u00adlyzed by the mean\u00ading\u00adless\u00adness of mod\u00adern life still have to drink water from time to time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Stephen Koch, Mod\u00adern Library Writer\u2019s Work\u00adshop<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cUse the bad\u00adness of your first draft. Let the holes and dull spots tell you what needs to be filled and what needs to be cut.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ray Brad\u00adbury:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhat can we writ\u00aders learn from lizards, lift from birds? In quick\u00adness is truth. The faster you blurt, the more swift\u00adly you write, the more hon\u00adest you are.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Seneca:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cArs lon\u00adga, vita bre\u00advis.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Tru\u00adman Capote:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe test of whether or not a writer has divined the nat\u00adur\u00adal shape of his sto\u00adry is this: After read\u00ading it, can you imag\u00adine it dif\u00adfer\u00adent\u00adly, or does it silence your imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion and seem to you absolute and final? As an orange is final. As an orange is some\u00adthing nature has made just right.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n John Braine on dia\u00adlogue:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIf you can\u2019t speak it out loud, it\u2019s no good.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ethan Canin:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNoth\u00ading is so impor\u00adtant as a lik\u00adable nar\u00adra\u00adtor. Noth\u00ading holds a sto\u00adry togeth\u00ader bet\u00adter.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rud\u00adyard Kipling:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026a tale from which pieces have been raked out is like a fire that has been poked. One does not know the oper\u00ada\u00adtion has been per\u00adformed, but every\u00adone feels the effect.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n George V. Hig\u00adgins:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNobody ever got start\u00aded on a career as a writer by exer\u00adcis\u00ading good judg\u00adment, and no one ever will, either, so the soon\u00ader you break the habit of rely\u00ading on yours, the faster you will advance.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n John Gard\u00adner in The Art of Fic\u00adtion<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cScenes are the \u2018log\u00adic\u2019 of a fic\u00adtion\u00adal argu\u00adment.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n