How to Write Pulp Fiction Quotes

“But somebody told me once you have to write what you know.” “Hooey! Write what you burn with, and then find out what you need to know to write it.”
― James Scott Bell, How to Write Pulp Fiction

“A blank page is God’s way of telling us how hard it is to be God.”
― James Scott Bell, How to Write Pulp Fiction

“The main thing is to break the shackles of laziness and begin our labors; then, after that, to forget that we are laboring in the sheer joy of creation with which our labor inspires us.”
― James Scott Bell, How to Write Pulp Fiction

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
― James Scott Bell, How to Write Pulp Fiction

“Lester Dent’s Master Fiction Plot One of the most successful of the pulp writers was Lester Dent (1904-1959). In his relatively short life he churned out at least 175 novels, most of them about the titular character Doc Savage”
― James Scott Bell, How to Write Pulp Fiction

“Sentence one is character + vocation + current situation. Sentence two starts with “When” and is what I call the Doorway of No Return––the thing that pushes the Lead into the main plot. Sentence three begins with “Now” and the death (physical, professional, or psychological/spiritual) stakes.”
― James Scott Bell, How to Write Pulp Fiction

“A chef’s genius is not to create a dish from original ingredients, but to combine standard ingredients in original ways. The diner recognizes the pattern established in the foundation of a baked stuffed turkey, and we look for the variation, the twist that will surprise and delight”
― James Scott Bell, How to Write Pulp Fiction

“Pulp doesn’t bog us down with thematic ambiguity or thick flights of circumlocutory style. (I consulted a thesaurus to get circumlocutory, which is exactly the kind of thing pulp doesn’t do.) Pulp is escapist and entertaining. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”
― James Scott Bell, How to Write Pulp Fiction