The attitude that poetry should not be analyzed is prevalent among many who consider themselves experts on children's literature. But I suspected that kids like to look closely at things and figure out what makes them go. X. J. Kennedy Attitude • Children • Closely • Kids • Literature • Many • Poetry • Prevalent • Themselves Experts
I like poems where you don't really know whether to laugh or cry when you read them. X. J. Kennedy Cry • Know • Laugh • Like • Poems • Them • Whether • You
To me, a poem that's in rhyme and meter is the difference between watching a film in full color and watching a film in black and white. Not that a few black and white films aren't wonderful. So are certain successful pieces of free verse. X. J. Kennedy Black • Black And White • Certain Successful Pieces • Color • Difference Between • Film • Free • Me • Poem • Rhyme
I don't think anybody is a poet 24/7, only in those rare moments when a person is producing a poem. X. J. Kennedy Anybody • Moments • Only • Person • Poem • Poet • Rare • Rare Moments • Think
As a writer given to the old formalities of rhyme and meter, I sometimes feel endangered these days. X. J. Kennedy Days • Feel • Old • Old Formalities • Sometimes • Writer • Writer Given
My real name is Joe Kennedy, but if you live in Massachusetts, you can't sign 'Joe Kennedy.' So, back in 1957, I stuck the X on my name to be different from those people in Hyannis Port. X. J. Kennedy Be Different • Joe Kennedy • Live • Massachusetts • Name • People • Real Name • Sign • You
As for advice for aspiring authors, the best I can give is to be brave. It sounds like a simple enough thing, but it's not. Rejection is such an integral part of this journey, and it never goes away. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Advice • Best • Brave • Integral Part • Journey • Rejection • Simple • Simple Enough Thing • Sounds
I love being new places and hate getting there, and have been known to say on multiple occasions that I would give anything from a piece of my soul to a limb to a portion of my life savings to teleport. Especially when bad weather keeps me off planes. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Bad Weather Keeps • Hate • Known • Life • Love • Me • Multiple Occasions • New Places • Planes • Soul • Weather
So many people think that if you're writing fantasy, it means you can just make everything up as you go. Want to add a dragon? Add a dragon! Want some magic? Throw it in. But the thing is, regardless of whether you're dealing with realism or fantasy, every world has rules. Make sure to establish a natural order. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Dragon • Fantasy • Fantasy Every World • Go • Magic • Many People • People • Realism • Regardless • Sure • Thing • Think • Whether • World • Writing
I still get rejections – frequently – and my goal isn't to never fail, to never be turned down, but simply to succeed more often than I don't. And in order to do that, I have to constantly put myself out there, to judgment, critique, and rejection. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Constantly • Critique • Down • Fail • Goal • Myself • Order • Rejection • Rejections • Simply • Succeed • Turned
I am a firm believer that a good plot makes for a fun enough read, but it's not what binds us. If we don't care about the characters, we won't care – not in a lasting way – about what's happening to them. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Care • Characters • Enough • Firm Believer • Fun • Fun Enough • Good • Good Plot • I Am • Lasting Way • Way
I think a lot of writers are tempted to add complexity by over-complicating things, but always remember that most natural rules/laws are, at their core, simple. Start simple, and build from there, or you risk getting yourself and your readers tangled. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Complexity • Lot • Natural • Overcomplicating Things • Readers • Remember • Simple • Start • Think • Writers • Yourself
I'd grown up an athletic child, a competitive soccer player since age 4, with stints ranging from months to years in gymnastics, softball, volleyball. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Age • Athletic • Athletic Child • Child • Competitive Soccer Player • Months • Soccer • Stints Ranging • Up • Years
Fencing is a game of living chess, a match where reflexes only work in combination with intent, and mind and body must work together at every moment. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Body • Combination • Fencing • Game • Intent • Living Chess • Match • Mind • Moment • Reflexes • Together • Work
I almost always start with setting! I have to know the world before I know how to populate it. I have a tendency to play with doors – between life and death, human and monster, mundane and magic – and with 'ADSOM,' I knew I wanted to play with the physical doors between worlds. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Death • Doors • Doors Between • Life • Magic • Start • Tendency • World
I was fourteen, watching 'The Princess Bride' for the 254321th time, captivated by Wesley and Inigo dueling on the cliff-top. I had never held a sword in my life, but I phoned my mum and said, 'I want to learn to fence!' Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Bride • Clifftop • Life • Mum • My Life • Princess • Princess Bride • Sword • Th Time • Time
It's not what people do that matters, it's why they do it. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Matters • People • Why
It's always hard, when introducing readers to a new world/set of rules, not to lay it all out manual-style in the opening chapters but make sure to put the action and the characters at the front. If people don't become invested in them and in the story, the world in which it's set will become a burden. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Action • Hard • Introducing Readers • New • New World • People • Rules • Set • Story • World
Young people like to think they're invincible. They don't like to face any situation where they've gotten weaker instead of stronger. Victoria Elizabeth Schwab Face • People • Situation • Think • Weaker • Young
A writer has a difficult fate, but a Jewish writer has an especially difficult fate. His soul is torn; he lives on two streets with three languages. It is a misfortune to live on this sort of 'border,' and that is what I have experienced. S. Ansky Border • Difficult Fate • Especially • Experienced • Fate • Jewish • Live • Misfortune • Sort • Soul • Streets • Three • Three Languages • Two Streets • Writer
When I first stepped into literature twenty-five years ago, I wanted to work on behalf of the oppressed, the working masses, and it seemed to me, mistakenly, that I would not find them among the Jews. S. Ansky Behalf • Find • First • Literature • Literature Twentyfive Years • Me • Work • Working • Years
Bearing an eternal longing for Jewishness, I threw myself in all directions and left to work for another people. I am not one of those lucky ones raised in their own environment, whose work is normal. S. Ansky Another People • Directions • Environment • Environment Whose Work • Eternal • I Am • Jewishness • Lucky • Myself • Normal • People • Work
All a Jew has to do is recite a few proverbs or anecdotes to consider himself an expert on 'Jewishness.' S. Ansky Anecdotes • Expert • Few • Himself • Jew • Jewishness • Proverbs • Recite
I love to walk into Borders or Barnes & Noble and see my books there. It's fabulous. Phyllis Christine Cast Barnes Amp Noble • Books • Borders • Fabulous • Love • Noble • See • Walk
Kids definitely go into bookstores after reading 'Twilight' and want something else like it. Phyllis Christine Cast Bookstores • Go • Kids • Kids Definitely • Like • Reading • Reading Twilight • Something • Twilight • Want
I'm from a family of teachers. My father would drown me in the bathtub if my daughter didn't graduate from college. I don't care who she is or what she does. Just get the diploma. Phyllis Christine Cast Bathtub • College • Daughter • Diploma • Family • Father • Graduate • Me • Teachers
As a successful romantic novelist – one of my publishers is Mills & Boon – I create the sort of male heroes that no woman could fail to adore and few real men could hope to emulate. Phyllis Christine Cast Create • Hope • Male Heroes • Men • Mills Amp Boon • Publishers • Real • Romantic • Sort • Successful Romantic Novelist • Woman
With a young-adult series, you need to get a lot of books out on the market quickly. Teenagers aren't going to wait years and years for the next book. Phyllis Christine Cast Book • Books • Lot • Market Quickly • Need • Next Book • Teenagers • Wait • Years • You • Youngadult Series
If you're too scared to put your dreams, thoughts, desires, fantasies on paper and share them with the world, then being an author isn't the right career for you. Phyllis Christine Cast Dreams • Dreams Thoughts • Fantasies • Paper • Thoughts • World • Your Dreams
I've seen a big shift, especially in my classroom, with women standing up and demanding respect. That's in every woman, whether 16, 26, 56. Phyllis Christine Cast Big • Big Shift • Classroom • Every Woman Whether • Respect • Woman • Women
Vampires and teens have a lot in common. Teens have surging hormones, vampires have surging blood lust. Teenagers think they're immortal. Phyllis Christine Cast Blood • Blood Lust • Common • Hormones Vampires • Lot • Lust • Teenagers • Teens • Think • Vampires
Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. Alan Alexander Milne Mixed • Organizing • Something • Up • Work • You
Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad. Alan Alexander Milne Bad • Because • Best • Game • Golf • Popular • Simply • World
To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks. Alan Alexander Milne Education • Just • Sticks • Three • Uneducated
If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you. Alan Alexander Milne Day • Hundred • Live • Minus • One • Valentine's Day • Want • You
What I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow. Alan Alexander Milne Decent • Fellow • Likes • Must • Potatoes • Pretty • Really • Say • Sort
It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words, like 'What about lunch?' Alan Alexander Milne Easy • Fun • Long • Long Difficult • Lunch • Rather • Short • Someone • Words
You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes. Alan Alexander Milne Brainy • Corner • Forest • Others • Sometimes • Waiting • You
Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them. Alan Alexander Milne Flowers • Gardening • Know • Once • Weeds • You
Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. Alan Alexander Milne Believe • Braver • Intelligence • Me • Remember • Smarter • Stronger • Think • You
Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again? Alan Alexander Milne Again • Forget • Start • Stop • Think • You
A clever conjurer is welcome anywhere, and those of us whose powers of entertainment are limited to the setting of booby-traps or the arranging of apple-pie beds must view with envy the much greater tribute of laughter and applause which is the lot of the prestidigitator with some natural gift for legerdemain. Alan Alexander Milne Anywhere • Clever • Conjurer • Entertainment • Envy • Gift • Laughter • Limited • Powers • Setting • Us • View • Welcome
A writer wants something more than money for his work: he wants permanence. Alan Alexander Milne He • Money • More • Permanence • Something • Work • Writer
Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the thing you can't hear, and not bothering. Alan Alexander Milne Doing • Listening • Nothing • Thing • Value • You
Is 'The Wind in the Willows' a children's book? Is 'Alice in Wonderland?' Is 'Treasure Island?' These are masterpieces which we read with pleasure as children, but with how much more pleasure when we are grown-up. Alan Alexander Milne Alice • Book • Children • Island • Masterpieces • Treasure • Willows • Wind • Wonderland
X. J. Kennedy
Victoria Elizabeth Schwab
S. Ansky
Phyllis Christine Cast
Alan Alexander Milne
