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Tag: quotes

  • September 7th, 2012 7:37am

    Rushing was the very last thing his words seemed to be doing; indeed, for one whose profession and social status it was to be a writer, he was making miserably slow progress, and no one could have watched him without reaching the conclusion that a writer is a man to whom writing comes harder than to anyone else.

    —

    Tristan by Thomas Mann (via tsumetaihikari) 

    Just finished reading this in one of the lit classes I’m taking. Definitely my favorite of Mann’s stories. 

  • August 28th, 2012 11:29pm

    The views expressed were offensive. Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn’t make sense to the American people and certainly doesn’t make sense to me. So what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women.

    —

    President Obama in a surprise press conference today, speaking about Todd Akin’s deplorable “legitimate rape” statement.

    I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the sound of how hard I’m voting Obama.

    (via bigfatfeminist)

  • August 26th, 2012 12:54am

    Pro-tip for writers,

    because I’ve been seeing this a lot. 

    To be is the most common of the linking verbs and also the most overused, but all the linking verbs invite generalization and distance. To feel, to seem, to look, to appear, to experience, to express, to show, to demonstrate, to convey, to display – all these suggest in fiction that the character is being acted upon or observed by someone rather than doing something. She felt happy/sad/amused/mortified does not convince us. We want to see her and to infer her emotion for ourselves. He very clearly conveyed his displeasure. It isn’t clear to us. How did he convey it? To whom?

    Most linking verbs have active as well as effectively passive forms, and it is important to distinguish them. She felt sad is effectively passive, but she felt his forehead is an action. If the magician appeared, he is acting; but if he appeared annoyed, then the verb is a linking verb and the only action implied is that of the observer who perceives this. 

    Linking verbs, like the passive voice, can appropriately convey a sense of passivity or helplessness when that is the desired effect. 

    From Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway