Every great or even every very good writer makes the world over according to his own specifications.
Interpretation
Writers shape their unique vision of the world through their creativity and perspective.
This quote by Raymond Carver encapsulates the idea that every writer has the power to transform reality through their words, reflecting personal experiences and imagination. It emphasizes the individuality of artistic expression in literature, where each writer creates their own version of the world based on their unique viewpoint and specifications.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of voice and creativity in writing classes.
Woke up this morning with a terrific urge to lie in bed all day and read. Fought against it for a minute. Then looked out the window at the rain. And gave over. Put myself entirely in the keep of this rainy morning. Would I live my life over again? Make the same unforgivable mistakes? Yes, given half a chance. Yes.
Fiction shows the external effects of internal conditions. Be aware of the tension between internal and external movement.
I loved you so much once. I did. More than anything in the whole wide world. Imagine that. What a laugh that is now. Can you believe it? We were so intimate once upon a time I can't believe it now. The memory of being that intimate with somebody. We were so intimate I could puke. I can't imagine ever being that intimate with somebody else. I haven't been.
When I'm writing, I write every day. It's lovely when that's happening. One day dovetailing into the next. Sometimes I don't even know what day of the week it is.
It's strange. You never start out life with the intention of becoming a bankrupt or an alcoholic or a cheat and a thief. Or a liar.
When you're writing fiction or poetry... it really comes down to this: indifference to everything except what you're doing... A young writer could do worse than follow the advice given in those lines.
Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home.
Plot is a map and I begin with it. It is what made me admire the novels of the 19th century; that the stories are foreshadowed. TheyÕre going someplace.
Actors are always afraid of ending up like overcooked old soup over time. What's risky is that you don't realize this has happened, and you just get thick and boring. Going abroad was like getting a new pot to cook everything again. I was a rookie, a new self. And they were asking me, 'Who are you?'
I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.
Pixar films are not realistic. They are believable for the worlds we are creating.
Prose is like hair; it shines with combing.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.