Kate DiCamillo Quotes

Lyrically, 'less words mean more' is a pretty good rule of thumb. Try to cut out the fat and get to the meat of what you're saying.

It is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all that he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his readers is sure to skip them.

I think in most cases, unless you're writing about a character who is garrulous, you say what you've got to say and then get out. Those little conjunctions, those little turnaround words help you do it. That's the way I like to write: I get rid of things rather than add them.

To say more while saying less is the secret of being simple.

I usually write very few stage directions. I think a lot of that is a waste of time. The art of screenwriting is in its terseness, saying a lot with a little. I have no patience when I read a script where the writer describes this guy and what he's wearing and his glasses and his hair.

What a labour writing is ... making one sentence do the work of a page; that's what I call hard work.

It has often been said there’s so much to be read, you never can cram all those words in your head. So the writer who breeds more words than he needs is making a chore for the reader who reads. That's why my belief is the briefer the brief is, the greater the sigh of the reader's relief is. And that's why your books have such power and strength. You publish with shorth! (Shorth is better than length.)

My favorite form is the short story. From an aesthetics stand point you really have to pare down to the bone. You can't write a throw-away scene.

I like shorter jokes. I like fewer words. I think the more ideas there are the, the fewer words there should be.

My stories are very compact. I want them to say the most complex things in the simplest way.

Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?

I've been accused of being a minimalist writer. I don't like a lot of verbiage in there.

But the shortest works are always the best.

I believe most things can be said in a few lines.

It looks like you can write a minimalist piece without much bleeding. And you can. But not a good one.

Directing my own writing, I see that I talk way too much, and everything can happen much sooner, with much less said about it.

Less is almost always better than more. Short words, short sentences, short speeches.

Never say more than is necessary.

I don't use a lot of words unnecessarily.

I do try and keep my scripts quite economical.

Tweeting has taught me the discipline to say more with fewer words.

Most writers write too much. I have the exact opposite problem. I feel I could write almost anything in a paragraph. I have a natural ability to condense, and so I often think, "Are you kidding me? Five thousand words? How am I gonna make 5,000 words out of that?"

The lessons learned in journalism also apply. Writing for NPR has taught me to cut a piece in half and then in half again - without losing the essence. Apply that to the swollen prose of a bulky novel and you might reveal a beautiful work.

A book should be luminous not voluminous.

I think precision in writing goes hand in hand with not trying to say everything. You try and say two-thirds, so the reader will involve himself or herself.