I don't care whether the story is real or fantastical. I tell the story that needs to be told.
Jane YolenRead
Don't ever write just for a trend or fad, because it's a moving target, and by the time you get your work out there, the trend or fad is gone. Dig deep; don't be afraid to write fiercely. Expose your heart.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Write authentically and passionately, rather than conforming to fleeting trends.
Jane Yolen's quote emphasizes the importance of genuine expression in writing. Instead of chasing after temporary trends or fads that may quickly fade, she encourages writers to dig deeper within themselves and create work that reflects their true feelings and thoughts. Writing fiercely and exposing one's heart leads to more meaningful and lasting contributions in the arts.
Themes
WritingAuthenticityPassionTrendsExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, this quote can inspire participants to write authentically without worrying about market trends.
More from Jane Yolen
All quotes →What makes a good book? Scholars and critics have been debating that question for decades. I like books that touch my head and my heart at the same time.
Jane YolenRead
Just write. If you have to make a choice, if you say, 'Oh well, I'm going to put the writing away until my children are grown,' then you don't really want to be a writer. If you want to be a writer, you do your writing... If you don't do it, you probably don't want to be a writer, you just want to have written and be famous—which is very different.
Jane YolenRead
I believe that culture begins in the cradle . . .To do without tales and stories and books is to lose humanity's past, is to have no star map for our future.
Jane YolenRead
Childrens books change lives. Stories pour into the hearts of children and help make them what they become.
Jane YolenRead
Folklore is the perfect second skin. From under its hide, we can see all the shimmering, shadowy uncertainties of the world.
Jane YolenRead
Similar quotes
I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose — there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?
Clara SchumannRead
Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.
D.T. SuzukiRead
I was this young boy and I saw this man with his hands round my sister's neck, I was just standing there with her two children beside me... Everything I've done since then was for the purpose of making women look stronger, not naïve. And so, when everyone started saying I was a misogynist, that really freaked me out. They didn't know me. They didn't know what I had seen in my life. That was the first part of fashion that I hated - people labeling me without knowing me.
Alexander McqueenRead
I think each time you start a story or novel or whatever, you are absolutely at the bottom of the ladder all over again. It doesn't matter what you've done before.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
The aim of all commentary on art now should be to make works of art - and, by analogy, our own experience - more, rather than less, real to us. The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to show what it means.
Susan SontagRead
Then the voices of the Ainur, like unto harps and lutes, and pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and like unto countless choirs singing with words, began to fashipn the theme of Iluvatar to a great music; and a sound arose of endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony that passed beyond hearing into the depths and into the heights, and the places of the dwelling of Iluvatar were filled to overflowing, and the music and the echo of the music went out into the Void, and it was not void.
J. R. R. TolkienRead