a dreamer's wisdom - norman foster

Everything inspires me; sometimes I think I see things others don’t.
- Norman Foster

I recently watched a documentary about the architecture of Norman
Foster entitled, How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?
Foster is an ever-dreamer.  He is said to carry a set of pristine
notebooks and pencils in the trunk of his car for whenever inspiration
hits.  He keeps his mind open, wants the tools of creation to be at his
fingertips at every moment.  His lines are very spare, the narrator
says, but also very expressive.

Don't we seek to write stories of the same description?  Every word,
every sentence should have a purpose.  Cast out the superfluous,
keep only what is sharp, bright, dripping with meaning.  We can
learn from great architects as we learn from each other.

If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with
sunbeams—the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.
- Robert Southey

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no
unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the
same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a
machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make
all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subject
only in outline, but that every word tell.
- William Strunk and E. B. White

on writing - author anecdotes

These are always to fun to read - the small beginnings to great ends.

1. The Hobbit:
J.R.R. TOLKIEN was grading college exam papers, and midway through
the stack he came across a gloriously blank sheet. Tolkien wrote down the
first thing that randomly popped into his mind: “In a hole in the ground there
lived a hobbit.” He had no idea what a hobbit was or why it lived
underground, and so he set out to solve the mystery.

2. Treasure Island:
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON painted a map to pass the time during a
dreary vacation in the Scottish Highlands. When he stepped back to admire his
handiwork, a cast of imaginary pirates appeared. Stevenson recalled, “They
passed to and fro, fighting and hunting treasure, on these few square inches of a
flat projection.” He promptly traded his paintbrush for a quill and began to write.

3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:
L. FRANK BAUM was telling his sons a story when he abruptly stopped.
He’d been swept away to a land unlike any his imagination had ever conjured.
Baum ushered the young audience into another room and, page by page, began
to document Dorothy’s journey along the yellow brick road.

By Neily