“I think that inevitably, the trouble our characters go through is a kind of metaphor for what's happening in ourselves.” Quote by Alice Mattison
“The making of fiction takes literally what is suggested by our imagination.” ImaginationFiction Author:Alice Mattison
“When an editor first explained to me the difference between direct and indirect writing, I just thought it was a stylistic choice.” WritingFirstsChoicesDifferencesDirectEditorsIndirectDirect And Indirect Author:Alice Mattison
“I began to see, again and again, stories that were first confusing and second where the emotional impact was muted because the big scene came before the explanation of what was going on. There was a reverse chronological order as well as a concealment of what exactly was going on. I think often that comes out of the fear of being boring, and sometimes I think it's just an attempt to seem clever.” ThinkingFirstsWellsSometimesStoriesBigsSeemsOrderEmotionalSceneImpactBoringCleverExplanationAgain And AgainReverseConfusingConcealment Author:Alice Mattison
“Sometimes indirect style and varying chronology is great, but quite often I've seen it be just something that gets in the way. It turns out when I talk to the writer that she or he, and more often it's a woman, that she's worried.” WaySometimesTurnsStyleWorriedIndirectChronology Author:Alice Mattison
“I've been astonished how often, when I convince a writer to tell a story more straightforwardly and to tell it more simply and directly, it turns out that this author is great and the story is wonderful.” StoriesTurnsWonderfulConvince Author:Alice Mattison
“If you have a character stand up and put on her shoes and open the door, in order to do that, you're imagining her shoes and her clothes and her house and her door. The character becomes more real. But once you've done that, you can probably just get it all across with a couple of details.” IfsRealDoneCharacterOrderHouseDoorsCoupleClothesShoesDetails Author:Alice Mattison
“We're always inventing, even if we're making someone who's fairly close to ourselves.” IfsInventing Author:Alice Mattison
“It's a scary thing for fiction writers, when you're always writing from the point of view both as and for someone who is different.” WritingDifferentViewsFictionScaryPoint Of ViewFiction WritersScary Things Author:Alice Mattison
“I think we need to develop the courage to write from the viewpoint of people who may seem quite different from ourselves, who might have a different sexual orientation or a different race or a different ethnicity.” PeopleThinkingNeedsWritingMayDifferentSeemsMightRaceOrientationViewpointsEthnicityDifferent Races Author:Alice Mattison
“I think the difference between writing as someone and writing for them is that when you write for someone, you take on a kind of political burden or message, which I don't think we have the right to do.” ThinkingWritingKindPoliticalDifferencesMessagesBurden Author:Alice Mattison