Saturday, February 16, 2008

Words of Wisdom from Writers





Your manuscript is both good and original;
but the part that is good is not original,
and the part that is original is not good.

~Author Unknown

3 comments:

  1. I have never heard that before, but it sure made me laugh. I enjoy your blog so much. Blessings and a happy evening to you. Peggy

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  2. Who is judging the manuscript? The person is judging the manuscript based on already accepted standards which are considered good, but because they are standard, they are not original. Maybe it would be best to write well and not care about originality as there is nothing new under the sun, everything has already been done before. My brain is going crazy.

    Maria Pauline

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  3. Peggy, I'm glad you found it amusing! I started collecting all of these quotations for a Creative Writing project, and my teacher had a good chuckle over them, too.

    Maria Pauline, interesting point about the standards not being original! But I think the manuscript in question must have copied other writers' styles, or just been a poor manuscript altogether. If someone writes well, they are almost sure to be original -- there are no new topics, but it is originality of expression that makes a writer good. My brain is going crazy, too ;)

    Yours in Christ,
    Shannon

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