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Thought I'd shoot some more quotes your way. (See May 9th.) Some are inspiring, some downright cynical. Here's one from essayist Annie Dillard...
"The writer knows his field-what has been done, what could be done, the limits-the way a tennis player knows the court. And like that expert, he, too, plays the edges. That is where the exhilaration is. He hits up the line..."
For screenwriters, the message is watch and read movies. Learn your way around the court. Work on your backhand. Once you've honed your craft-take some risks. Hit it up the line for a winner. The quote comes from Dillard's book, The Writing Life. It's a good, short read.
Writer Emile Zola offers this bon mot: "The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." So, keep working at your craft. There's nothing you can do about having the "gift." That's a matter of blind faith, so don't worry about it. The work is what matters.
William Goldman's always good for a quote. Here's a pithy one: "The reality of a movie has almost nothing to do with the reality of the world that we, as humans, inhabit..." Movies and plays are not about ordinary days-they're about characters facing big obstacles on days when they are forced to make difficult choices. The choices they make propel your plot.
Our dose of cynicism comes from Flannery O'Connor: "Everywhere I go, I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them."
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