Quotes from James Scott Bell

It's quite interesting to note that Townes's colleagues at Columbia were skeptical of his idea. Niels Bohr, one of the great quantum physicists, and Nobel laureate Isadore Rabi, head of the university's physics department, told Townes his maser idea would never work and urged him to abandon the project.

Keep writing. Get to the end. Don't allow yourself to abandon the project. You must finish what you write. But what, you ask, if I have a chaotic mess at the end? Celebrate. This is the way it usually is, even for veteran novelists.

Good writers are good readers.

My philosophy on writing books is that if you learn only one new thing, or even get a new take on something you already know, it's worth it.

Think of it as the Doorway of No Return. The feeling must be that your lead character, once she passes through, cannot go home again until the major problem of the plot is solved.

Structure is translation software for your imagination.

Superb historical romance, with a spiritual theme woven seamlessly throughout. I much enjoyed The Covered Deep and look forward to more from its author!

A writing teacher once told me that the most successful movies and books were simple plots about complex characters. You should be able to articulate your concept in a couple of lines.

Write like you're in love. Edit like you're in charge.

I was in the house alone. That's usually the case because I'm writing and my wife is out in the real world doing something of great value and being with actual people. People who are not tied down to a keyboard, monitor and chair calling out to people who aren't in the house.

The best way to predict the future is to create it. You do that by study.

Luck is where hard work meets opportunity.

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

The exclamation point is a loud party-goer, demanding attention. Overdone, it can be annoying.

Epictetus (55 ? 135 A.D.) said, There is only one way to happiness and that is to stop worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

When our characters show us the full fire of that inner battle, we have the makings of great fiction. For whether the choice is ultimately for honor or dishonor, we will see the consequences and the reader will be instructed without being taught.

Get a PHD No, not a doctoral degree. I mean a PHD attitude: Poor, Hungry and Driven.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. – Alan Kay

What I found was a moment where the main character has to figuratively look at himself, as in the mirror. He is confronted with a disturbing truth: change or die.

Know your death stakes! This is going to be crucial in order for you to write your novel from the middle.

You must want it enough. Enough to take all the rejections, enough to pay the price of disappointment and discouragement while you are learning. Like any other artist you must learn your craft—then you can add all the genius you like. – Phyllis Whitney

A blank page is God's way of telling us how hard it is to be God.

A quirky, colorful character overstays her welcome after a few chapters, unless trouble comes calling.

Inside you there are universes. You contain multitudes.