A Short Collection of Writing Quotes

March was rough, and unfortunately I was more active on Google+ and gab.ai than any of the blogs I have a responsibility to. But I did collect a set of quotes on writing and SFF posted on social media during that time.

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I believe the difference between pulp and slick writing is this:the pulp story springs from an action idea, and is motivated by action; the slick yarn at its best is conceived from a character idea, and is motivated by characterization. 

—Allan R. Bosworth, Writer's Digest, January 1947

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"To me, arguing about hard or soft sf is like arguing about Coke or Pepsi. The are both a drink made of lime, vanilla and caramel. The difference is a pinch of sugar.

"Hard sf writers who sneer at soft sf writers, in effect, are proud of a pinch of sugar. Upbraid this pride, for it is folly. But do not upbraid the extra pinch of sugar, for some folk buy Pepsi."

—John C. Wright

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"The science fiction fan is to us what the jitterbug is to the swing band. Out of science fiction's 500,000 readers, only about 5000 of the are fans. But these 5000 make all the noise and shoot off all the fireworks."

—Jerry Westerfield, editor for Amazing Stories, in 1940.

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As Jon searched for the sergeants, his mind flashed back to himself on the cubic pyramid. He’d wielded an axe. It reminded him of what the colonel had told him about the ancient Vikings. They had roved the Earth’s oceans, savage warriors with an even more barbaric code of war. The Vikings served Odin, the All-Father. According to the colonel, the Vikings believed that a man would always lose in the end. The purpose of a warrior was to live and, particularly, to die well. He did that by wading into battle cheerfully. He laughed at his enemies as he swung his battleaxe. If he fell in battle, so what? Odin would see the valiant end, send his maidens and take the slain warrior to Valhalla. There, the warrior would fight and feast until the cold end of the universe. 

That had been a warrior’s ethos. Laugh at danger. Enjoy sick odds.

Jon decided it was time to laugh. It was time for every Black Anvil to wade into the impossible fight and see what happened. Everyone lost in the end. The trick was to live well and to be courageous and aggressive. 

—Heppner, Vaughn. A.I. Destroyer (Kindle Locations 4211-4215). Kindle Edition.

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If entertainment means light and playful pleasure, then I think it is exactly what we ought to get from some literary work – say, from a trifle by Prior or Martial. If it means those things which ‘grip’ the reader of popular romance – suspense, excitement and so forth – then I would say that every book should be entertaining. A good book will be more; it must not be less. Entertainment, in this sense, is like a qualifying examination. If a fiction can’t provide even that, we may be excused from inquiry into its higher qualities.

—C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism

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"How does one generate a scientific-marvelous novel?"

"It's all about extending science fully into the unknown, and not simply imagining that science has finally accomplished such and such a feat currently in the process of coming to be."

 —Maurice Renard

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"I believe the difference between pulp and slick writing is this: the pulp story springs from an action idea, and is motivated by action; the slick yarn at its best is conceived from a character idea, and is motivated by characterization."

—Allan R. Bosworth, Writer's Digest, January 1947

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Complete surety of the plot, before beginning, allows spontaneous writing. 

—Walter Gibson, author of the Shadow