“I consider myself an essayist and a fiction writer. In the essays, I certainly have been influenced by some of the leading science essayists. Like Loren Eiseley, Stephen Jay Gould, Lewis Thomas.” Has BeensFictionEssaysFiction WritersEssayistsJay Gould Author:Alan Lightman
“In fiction writing, I would say there are several different strands that have been woven through my own writing, and each influenced by a different group of writers.” WritingHas BeensDifferentMy OwnFictionGroupsWovenFiction WritingStrands Author:Alan Lightman
“Another strand of my writing is the importance of the idea. If you think about fiction writing as a spectrum, where at one end of the spectrum in the infrared, are the story tellers, and the people for whom creation of wonderful characters and telling a good story is the most important thing.” PeopleIfsThinkingWritingImportantIdeasEndsCharacterStoriesFictionWonderfulCreationImportanceImportant ThingsSpectrumGood StoryFiction WritingStrandsInfrared Author:Alan Lightman
“That's the fine balance of a fiction writer...to be able to give your characters enough freedom to surprise you and yet still maintain some kind of artistic control.” GivingKindStillsEnoughCharacterAbleFictionFineBalanceSurpriseArtisticFiction Writers Author:Alan Lightman
“In fiction writing ideas have to be handled extremely carefully. You can't let your characters just be mouthpieces for your ideas. They have to live and breathe on their own.” WritingIdeasCharacterFictionBreatheFiction WritingMouthpiece Author:Alan Lightman
“All writers have roots they draw from - travel, work, family. My roots are in science and it is fertile ground for fiction.” FictionDrawsRootsFertileFertile GroundWork Family Author:Alan Lightman
“I have for a long time loved fabulist, imaginative fiction, such as the writing of Italo Calvino, Jose Saramago, Michael Bulgakov, and Salman Rushdie. I also like the magic realist writers, such as Borges and Marquez, and feel that interesting truths can be learned about our world by exploring highly distorted worlds.” WorldFeelsWritingLongInterestingFictionMagicLong TimeOur WorldExploringImaginativeRealistTime LoveBorgesRushdieMarquez Author:Alan Lightman
