When two people loved each other they worked together always, two against the world, a little company. Joy was shared; trouble was split. You had an ally.
It is only when you open your veins and bleed onto the page a little that you establish contact with your reader. If you do not believe in the characters or the story you are doing at that moment with all your mind, strength, and will, if you don't feel joy and excitement while writing it, then you're wasting good white paper, even if it sells, because there are other ways in which a writer can bring in the rent money besides writing bad or phony stories.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Authentic writing requires personal investment and emotional connection to resonate with readers.
In this quote, Paul Gallico emphasizes the importance of genuine emotional engagement in the writing process. He argues that to truly connect with readers, a writer must infuse their work with personal experiences and feelings, rather than merely focusing on commercial success or producing superficial stories. This passion not only enriches the narrative but also elevates the art of writing, suggesting that authenticity and heartfelt storytelling are essential to capturing an audience's attention.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about the importance of passion in creative work.
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As an artist, I want to interpret my feelings - not run across the street and ask what my mother thinks.
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Abstract painting seeks to be a pure pictorial language, and thus attempts to escape the essential impurity of all languages: the recourse to signs or forms that have meanings shared by everyone.
So much of what I love about poetry lies in the vast possibilities of voice, the spectacular range of idiosyncratic flavors that can be embedded in a particular human voice reporting from the field. One beautiful axis of voice is the one that runs between vulnerability and detachment, between 'It hurts to be alive' and 'I can see a million miles from here.' A good poetic voice can do both at once.