…I go through a story for lies. I might discover the lie of trying to show off. Sometimes they’re lies of character. Sometimes they are lies of writing the most beautiful sentence in the world that has nothing to do with the story.
Grace PaleyWell, by now you must know yourself, honey, whatever you do, life don't stop. It only sits a minute and dreams a dream.
Grace PaleyI begin by writing paragraphs that don’t have an immediate relation to a plot. The sound of the story comes first.
Grace PaleyI believe in a kind of fidelity to your own early ideas; it's a kind of antagonism in me to prevailing fads.
Grace Paley