You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.
Interpretation
Writing is driven by genuine thoughts and feelings rather than a mere desire to express oneself.
This quote emphasizes the importance of substance in writing. It suggests that true writers are motivated by a deep need to communicate ideas or emotions that are significant to them, rather than just for the sake of writing or to fill a blank page. It highlights the notion that meaningful expression stems from authentic experiences and insights.
In practice
In a writing workshop, when discussing the motivations behind storytelling.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
I think the drummer should sit back there and play some drums, and never mind about the tunes. Just get up there and wail behind whoever is sitting up there playing the solo. And this is what is lacking, definitely lacking in music today.
Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance... poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music.
The source of genius is imagination alone, the refinement of the senses that sees what others do not see, or sees them differently.
I get the impression sometimes that a play arrives in a sequence of events that I have no control over.
The poet complains or points out the discontent that lies at the heart of man, the individual man, and how can that be redeemed?
The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot be.
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