Mark Z. Danielewski Quotes

Should novels generally be 600 pages? No, they should not. Half of writing, maybe 3/4 of writing, is editing. This seems to be a thing that has not gotten through to them. It's my impression that you could get rid of half of most of these books. These people are not good enough to be this long, but they're apparently also not good enough to be shorter.

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.

It is no great art to say something briefly when, like Tacitus, one has something to say; when one has nothing to say, however, and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth into a liar - that I call an achievement.

You know what writers say about their long books: If I had another year, the book would be half as long.

Wordiness is a sickness of American writing. Too many words dilute and blur ideas.

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

I cannot write long books; I leave that for those who have nothing to say.

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?"

A book should be luminous not voluminous.

In a way, the main fault of all books is that they are too long.

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

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.

I'm tired of wasting letters when punctuation will do, period.

Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words.

Writing is learning to say nothing, more cleverly each day.

But the shortest works are always the best.

One mistake with beginners in writing is, that they think it important to spin out something long. It is a great deal better not to write more than a page or two, unless you have something to say, and can write it correctly.

I take six or seven years to write really small books. There is a kind of aesthetic of leanness, of brevity.

One tends to write beyond what's needed.

I've really tried to strip my writing of as many adjectives and adverbs as I possibly can.

They write them long because they can't write them short.

Use half as many words and they'll hit twice as hard.

I am trying to say it all in one sentence, between one cap and one period.

I'm going to make a long speech because I've not had the time to prepare a short one.

Let us not write at a loose rambling rate, in hope the world will wink at all our faults.