I’ll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I’ll put that flea in a box, and then I’ll put that box inside of another box, and then I’ll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives, I’ll smash it with a hammer! It’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius I say! Or, to save on postage, I’ll just poison him with this.- Yzma, Emperor’s New Groove
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Readers take in dialogue one thought at a time. A frequent mistake of beginners is to combine thoughts, which may be suitable for other forms of writing but not for dialogue. Another mistake is speechifying. Three sentences at a time is tops, yet many beginners write speeches that go on and on. – Sol Stein
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Exposition can serve as an explanation. It’s all in the arrangement…. Make them want the exposition so that, when you give it, it answers the questions they already possess. – Chuck Wendig
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A little story is supported by a lot of untold backstory. What they get is more than what they see. – Karen Lord
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Creating characters is like throwing together ingredients for a recipe. I take characteristics I like and dislike in real people I know, or know of, and use them to embellish and define characters. – Cassandra Clare
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Yet the deepest truths are best read between the lines, and, for the most part, refuse to be written. – Amos Bronson Alcott
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“If it’s critical to the character, it’s critical to the reader, and then it’s not backstory.” – Jeff Kleinman
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