We're always attracted to the edges of what we are, out by the edges where it's a little raw and nervy.
E. L. DoctorowRead
I like commas. I detest semi-colons - I don't think they belong in a story. And I gave up quotation marks long ago. I found I didn't need them, they were fly-specks on the page.
Interpretation
What this quote means
E. L. Doctorow expresses his preference for simplicity in writing by rejecting certain punctuation marks.
In this quote, E. L. Doctorow conveys his belief that excessive punctuation, such as semi-colons and quotation marks, can clutter writing and detract from the storytelling experience. He emphasizes a desire for minimalism, suggesting that a clean and straightforward narrative is more powerful and effective than one burdened by unnecessary symbols.
Themes
WritingPunctuationSimplicityStorytellingMinimalism
In practice
Example use cases
A writer's workshop encouraging participants to explore minimalistic writing styles.
More from E. L. Doctorow
All quotes →One of the things I had to learn as a writer was to trust the act of writing. To put myself in the position of writing to find out what I was writing.
E. L. DoctorowRead
In fiction, you know, there are no borders. You can go anywhere.
E. L. DoctorowRead
Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.
E. L. DoctorowRead
We are all good friends. Friendship is what endures. Shared ideals, respect for the whole character of a human being.
E. L. DoctorowRead
I've known several cases of writers who decide to write about something and they research the hell out of it and when they're ready to write, they can't move because they are so burdened. I start writing. Whatever I need somehow comes to hand.
E. L. DoctorowRead
Similar quotes
But always and sometimes questioning the old modes_x000D_ _x000D_ And the new wondering, the poem, growing up through the floor,_x000D_ _x000D_ Standing tall in tubers, invading and smashing the ritual_x000D_ _x000D_ Parlor, demands to be met on its own terms now,_x000D_ _x000D_ Now that the preliminary negotiations are at last over.
John AshberyRead
Reading the very best writers—let us say Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Tolstoy—is not going to make us better citizens. Art is perfectly useless, according to the sublime Oscar Wilde, who was right about everything. He also told us that all bad poetry is sincere. Had I the power to do so, I would command that these words be engraved above every gate at every university, so that each student might ponder the splendor of the insight.
Harold BloomRead
I was very honored to get to be part of 'American Idol.'
Dolly PartonRead
Art for art's sake makes no more sense than gin for gin's sake.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
The art of our necessities is strange That can make vile things precious.
William ShakespeareRead
You know what I do? I listen to other people, stumbling about with their half thoughts and half sentences and their clumsy feelings that they can't express, and it hurts me. So I go home and burnish it and polish it and weld it to a rhythmic frame, make the dull colors gleam, mute the garish artificiality to pastels, so it doesn't hurt any more: that's my poem. I know what they want to say, and I say it for them.
Samuel R. DelanyRead