Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window. William Faulkner
About This Quote

If you wish to become a good writer, you need to read. And not just any old book. Read for yourself, but read more effectively. You need to read books that are either very good or very bad.

If the book is very bad, then you need to know why it is so bad. You can then write your own work that will be better than the book that was poorly written in the first place. On the other hand, if the book is very good, then you can use it as a model for your own work.

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More Quotes By William Faulkner
  1. The saddest thing about love, Joe, is that not only the love cannot last forever, but even the heartbreak is soon forgotten.
  2. She was bored. She loved, had capacity to love, for love, to give and accept love. Only she tried twice and failed twice to find somebody not just strong enough to deserve it, earn it, match it, but even brave enough to accept it.
  3. You don’t love because: you love despite; not for the virtues, but despite the faults.
  4. I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.
  5. Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
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