Mark Twain: Writing Tips

All Things Literary

(sorry NPR--If the paraphrase works--use it)

Want to be a great writer? Follow these tips. Mark Twain is back by popular demand.

• Don't say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.

• Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.

• Ideally a book would have no order to it, and the reader would have to discover his own.

• It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.

• Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Image via Wikipedia
• The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.

• What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before.

Guest Blogger Mark Twain--Water

Funday-Monday

Cover of Mark Twain

I'd like to introduce my guest blogger, Mark Twain. As we know over the last week, we've been inundated with Hurricane Irene news. Well, Twain is an expert meterologist and here are some of his insights about water.

• The solution to our water problems is more rain.

• Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.

• My books are like water; those of the great geniuses are wine. (Fortunately) everybody drinks water.

• Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.

• In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.

• Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.

Can you share your water experiences?