Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Jane Hyatt Yolenis an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 280 books, of which the best known is The Devil's Arithmetic, a Holocaust novella. Her other works include the Nebula Award-winning short story Sister Emily's Lightship, the novelette Lost Girls, Owl Moon, The Emperor and the Kite, the Commander Toad series and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight. She gave the lecture for the 1989 Alice G. Smith Lecture,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionYoung Adult Author
Date of Birth11 February 1939
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Jane Yolen quotes about
Folklore is the perfect second skin. From under its hide, we can see all the shimmering, shadowy uncertainties of the world.
A shadowless man is a monster, a devil, a thing of evil. A man without a shadow is soulless. A shadow without a man is a pitiable shred. Yet together, light and dark, they make a whole.
If you love a waist, you waste a love.
Fairy Tales always have a happy ending.' That depends... on whether you are Rumpelstiltskin or the Queen.
Fish are not the best authority on water.
Well,' the Goddess said, 'your heart didn't heal straight the last time it broke. So we'll break it again and reset it so it heals straight this time.
Sometimes living takes more courage than dying.
Growth in the ability to write comes in spurts.
Readers re-create any story to suit their own needs. They re-clothe the story in their own shirts. Put simply: just as we write the story we need to write, they read the story they need to read.
Wood may remain twenty years in the water, but it is still not a fish.
The main plot line is simple: Getting your character to the foot of the tree, getting him up the tree, and then figuring out how to get him down again.
Get up from your desk and wander outside occasionally. To be a good writer one needs to be a good observer, and there isn't a lot to be observed at desk level.
Intuition works best when you remember that 'tuition' is part of it. You need to have paid ahead of time (i.e. Done your prep work ) so as to prepare the ground for intuition.
Write, write, and write some more. Think of writing as a muscle that needs lots of exercise.