“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.”

— Beatrix Potter

Last update Feb. 4, 2022. History

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Beatrix Potter 18

English children's writer and illustrator 1866–1943

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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.

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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