Fantasy is my genre and my home in the writing world. I consider it the biggest writing room in all literature, where there are literally no boundaries at all.
Robin HobbRead
I wonder if I can write this history, or if on every page there will be some sneaking show of a bitterness I thought long dead. I think myself cured of all spite, but when I touch pen to paper, the hurt of a boy bleeds out with the sea-spawned ink, until I suspect each carefully formed black letter scabs over some ancient scarlet wound.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the struggle of expressing one's past pain through writing.
Robin Hobb's quote delves into the complexity of a writer's journey, suggesting that despite believing they have healed from past bitterness, the act of writing unveils unresolved emotions. The metaphor of ink as 'sea-spawned' indicates that the depth and fluidity of their experiences seep into the narrative, revealing scars that still affect their creative expression.
Themes
WritingPainHealingExpressionHistoryEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
During a writing workshop, one may quote this to illustrate how writing often uncovers hidden emotions.
More from Robin Hobb
All quotes →As I apologized to her a flicker of panic raced through me and then faded away. There wasn't enough life left in me to panic. I'd made a mistake and I was dying. Apparently not even a Speck afterlife was available to me. I'd simply stop being. Apparently I hadn't died correctly. Oops.
Robin HobbRead
That is the challenge Companion. To take what has happened to you and learn from it. Nothing is quite so destructive as pity, especially self-pity. No event in life is so terrible that one cannot rise above it.
Robin HobbRead
Start writing sooner. Don't wait for permission. Don't hesitate.
Robin HobbRead
I healed. Not completely. A scar is never the same as good flesh, but it stops the bleeding.
Robin HobbRead
If a man does not die of a wound, then it heals in some fashion, and so it is with loss. From the sharp pain of immediate berevement, both the Prince and I passed into the gray days of numb bewilderment and waiting. So grief has always seemed to me, a time of waiting not for the hurt to pass, but to become accustomed to it.
Robin HobbRead
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