The Load and the Wagon

“No matter how good the load may be, you can not carry it unless you can build and drive a good wagon. Probably the majority of writers will profit most by giving their whole attention to the wagon, partly because they haven’t a sufficiently valuable load to put in it and partly because they need their undivided effort to make the wagon fit to carry anything. Certainly it is sound for ninety-odd per cent of fiction writers to master their vehicle before they attempt hauling messages and information in it.”

– Fundamentals of Fiction Writing by Arthur Sullivant Hoffman, 1922