Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps 20 players. ... I have 10 or so, and thats a lot. As you get older, you become more skillful at casting them.
Interpretation
Every writer has a unique set of creative voices or personas that they draw from. With experience, they learn to use these voices more effectively in their writing.
Gore Vidal's quote suggests that each writer possesses an internal cast of characters, experiences, and perspectives that inform their work. He implies that like a director of a theater, a writer must skillfully choose which of their 'players' to employ for different narratives, and as they mature in their craft, this selection process becomes more refined, allowing for richer storytelling.
In practice
In a writing workshop, a speaker might share this quote to encourage aspiring authors to embrace their unique voices.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
Interesting thing, these fellows never seem to get the idea of perspective-' The Bursar thought, or received the thought: that's because perspective is a lie. If I know a pond is round then why should I draw it oval? I will draw it round because round is true. Why should my brush lie to you just because my eye lies to me?
I wasn't a fashion editor. I was the one and only fashion editor.
My goal as a writer is more to comfort than to disturb.
If the work is poor, the public taste will soon do it justice. And the author, reaping neither glory nor fortune, will learn by hard experience how to correct his mistakes.
The creative act is not hanging on, but yielding to a new creative movement. Awe is what moves us forward.
We must infuse our lives with art. Our national leaders must be informed that we want them to use our taxes to support street theatre in order to oppose street gangs. We should have a well-supported regional theatre in order to oppose regionalism and.
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