Mickey Spillane? Hy Gardner? Frank Smikel? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Popular writers endure a litany of complaints directed at their prose, e.g., mediocre, clumsy, crude, uninteresting, and undemanding. A bestselling writer once employed a clever analogy to explain this antagonism. The writer contended that literary darlings were trying to market caviar, whereas popular writers …
Tag Archives: Mickey Spillane
If You Find a Book You Really Want To Read But It Hasn’t Been Written Yet, Then You Must Write It
Toni Morrison? Benjamin Disraeli? Mickey Spillane? C. S. Lewis? J. R. R. Tolkien? Janet Fitch? Ann Patchett? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent American editor, writer, and educator Toni Morrison who authored the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” has been credited with an exhilarating remark about the creative process: If there’s a book you really want …