Susanna Kearsley Quotes

My writing tends to become very dense, so I have to keep some cushion. Sometimes, words that seem superfluous are actually essential for the overall effect.

Good writing is everything.

The more clearly you write, the more easily and surely you will be understood.

The perfection of style consists in the use of the exact speech necessary to convey the sense in the fewest words consistent with perspicuity, at the same time having regard to appropriateness and harmony of expression. Its greater excellencies are directness, accuracy, appropriateness and perspicuity.

If you need three adjectives to describe something, then you've probably chosen the wrong something.

People don't read me and say, 'Oh, it's so clean and elegant.'

A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation.

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

Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words.

I strive to be brief but I become obscure.

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

Mark Twain said, 'The right word is to the nearly right word as lightning is to the lightning bug.' Fill your book with lightning.

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.

In labouring to be concise, I become obscure.

I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.

But the shortest works are always the best.

I never want to dumb it down. If there's any simplification, it's just a simplification to make sure that the reader understands the point that the character is trying to make.

In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style.

It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure.

A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.

The essence of style is a simple way of saying something complex.

I write my columns pretty carefully.

I am a stickler for damn good writing.

I know words sometimes have consequences, but I try to choose the correct words every time.

The best advice on writing I've ever received was from William Zinsser: 'Be grateful for every word you can cut.'