Weekend Prompt: Your Ultimate Quote (Win swag!)
Write a conversation in which you utter what will be your—or your character’s—most memorable quote. The one that will be repeated for some time—for better or worse. — Hey writers,…
Write a conversation in which you utter what will be your—or your character’s—most memorable quote. The one that will be repeated for some time—for better or worse.
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Hey writers,
In the world of authors, you’ve probably heard them, or some form of them, before.
“[Writing is] like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” –E.L. Doctorow
“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” –Elmore Leonard
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” –Stephen King
“Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces.” –Allegra Goodman
What is it that instills a quote with fire and importance, that element that burns it into someone’s mind? Or, alternatively, what is it that deflates a quote and leaves you gnawing your tongue, wondering what, exactly, will go down in the history books?
In 500 words or fewer, funny, sad or stirring, I invite you to explore the prompt here or offline, and I'm also curious about your thoughts on the nature of quotes. And as always, feel free to post your stories in the comments section of the blog to automatically enter our monthly favorite-story swag giveaway.
Happy Friday,
Zachary
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Also, to tap into the inner punctuation nerd in us all, check out the hilarious "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks for some weekend reading.
Zachary Petit is a freelance journalist and editor, and a lifelong literary and design nerd. He's also a former senior managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine. Follow him on Twitter @ZacharyPetit.
