“When you write a short story … you had better know the ending first.”
The Casebook of the Black Widowers (1980), p. 177
General sources
Context: When you write a short story... you had better know the ending first. The end of a story is only the end to the reader. To the writer, it's the beginning. If you don't know exactly where you're going every minute you're writing, you'll never get there — or anywhere.
“If you don't like my story, write your own”
Variant: If you don't like someone's story, write your own.
Source: Things Fall Apart
Source: Introduction to Hawk’s Hill in Marion Zimmer Bradley (ed.), Sword and Sorceress 7 (1990), p. 183
John on a story he wrote when he was in elementary school Nov. 26th: Writing Advice (And Notes on Surnameless Tiffany) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gf69J1Go98&feature=channel
YouTube
Variant: You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better.
Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Variant: When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” he said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.
Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“If you can't write a decent short story because of the cold, write something else. Write anything.”
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), A Cold Day
Context: If you can't write a decent short story because of the cold, write something else. Write anything. Write a long letter to somebody.
