Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Chandler
It's hard. It's fucking hard. To write, to create, well written fiction.
My idols did it and until recently I didn't know how hard it was for them too. I thought they all sat down and wrote brilliant words that ended up in thier novels. How niave I was.
They revised. They massaged. They sculpted the words, sentences, and paragraghs.
Epiphany.
Revision, I am learning is the key to good writing.
Revision, revision, revision. It sucks - but there, I believe, is where the gold lies.
The road is tough and the gate is narrow but with revision I hope to plough through it.
I look to the great ones for guidence, inspiration, and a roadmap. I've been told before the ones I admires time has come and gone. I disagree.
Good writing is good writing and it is ageless.
So - ask not for whom the bell tolls...