The economy of a novelist is a little like that of a careful housewife who is unwilling to throw away anything that might perhaps serve its turn. Perhaps the comparison is closer to the Chinese cook who leaves hardly any part of a duck unserved.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Writers, like cooks or housewives, use every material they have.
- In plain terms
- Good writing wastes nothing; every detail serves a purpose.
- What can you take from it?
- Use every element of your story wisely.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What unused detail could serve your story?
- How do you decide what to keep?
Another view
Not all details deserve to be kept; some must be cut.
More from Graham Greene
Childhood was the germ of all mistrust. You were cruelly joked upon and then you cruelly joked. You lost the remembrance of pain through inflicting it.
Permalink to quote #5 Those who marry God can become domesticated too-it's just as hum-drum a marriage as all the others. The word 'Love' means a formal touch of the lips as in the …
Permalink to quote #7 Reality in our century is not something to be faced.
Permalink to quote #4
Related quotes
I leave out the parts that people skip.
Elmore LeonardElmore Leonard quote #3 When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story...When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.
Stephen KingStephen King quote #115 I think of writing as a sculptural medium. You are not building things. You are removing things, chipping away at language to reveal a living form.
Will SelfWill Self quote #5