The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “zadie smith”

Margaret Atwood on Literature’s Women Problem
Margaret Atwood on Literature’s Women Problem

“No male writer is likely to be asked to sit on a panel addressing itself to the special problems of a male writer.”

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The Writer’s Technique in Thirteen Theses: Walter Benjamin’s Timeless Advice on Writing
The Writer’s Technique in Thirteen Theses: Walter Benjamin’s Timeless Advice on Writing

“The more circumspectly you delay writing down an idea, the more maturely developed it will be on surrendering itself.”

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Stephen King on Writing, Fear, and the Atrocity of Adverbs
Stephen King on Writing, Fear, and the Atrocity of Adverbs

“I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing.”

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Cultural Icons on Criticism
Cultural Icons on Criticism

Twain, Sontag, Bradbury, Hitchens, Didion, and more.

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Order to the Chaos of Life: Isabel Allende on Writing
Order to the Chaos of Life: Isabel Allende on Writing

“Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too.”

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Hemingway on Writing, Knowledge, and the Dangers of Ego
Hemingway on Writing, Knowledge, and the Dangers of Ego

“All bad writers are in love with the epic.”

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The Philosophy of Style: Herbert Spencer on the Economy of Attention and the Ideal Writer (1852)
The Philosophy of Style: Herbert Spencer on the Economy of Attention and the Ideal Writer (1852)

“To have a specific style is to be poor in speech.”

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Susan Orlean on Writing
Susan Orlean on Writing

“You have to simply love writing, and you have to remind yourself often that you love it.”

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Mary Gordon on the Joy of Notebooks and How Writing by Hand Catalyzes Creativity
Mary Gordon on the Joy of Notebooks and How Writing by Hand Catalyzes Creativity

“However thoroughly we lose ourselves in the vortex of our invention, we inhabit a corporeal world.”

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9 Rules for Success by the Victorian Novelist Amelia E. Barr
9 Rules for Success by the Victorian Novelist Amelia E. Barr

“Everything good needs time. Don’t do work in a hurry… For genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.”

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