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Quote by Roy Kesey

“The most basic organizing principle was pretty straightforward, and is frankly pretty common: the shorter of what are by my lights the two most engaging stories goes first, the longer of the two goes at the end, and everything else goes in the middle.”

Quote by Roy Kesey

Author

Roy Kesey is an American author known for his science fiction and dystopian works. His specific biography and contributions are not well-documented. more

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“What I like about organizing things that way is that each story gets nearly full reign over its own space, but all of them are hung on a single string - the loosely-reined voice mentioned above. Thus the collection jogs away from suzerainty and past federation toward, I guess, alliance. Or maybe call each story a separate house on a single street? Or it's all a line of dive bars on some wharf front? What the hell, let's call reading the collection a pub crawl, but with words.”

Way Stories Past Reading House Voice Lines Space Hell Streets Fronts Bars Collections Over It Strings Hung Reign Alliances Pubs Federation Organizing Things

Author:Roy Kesey

“I start every first draft with voice rather than theme or image or even character as such, so it isn't like I'm ever rubbing my hands, cackling, "The dad is really going to take it on the chin in this one!" Not in terms of any given story, and certainly not in terms of the collection as a whole.”

Firsts Whole Character Stories Hands Given Voice Term Dad Theme Collections Chins

Author:Roy Kesey

“When you spend so much time trying to father well, and failing, and trying again, and hopefully failing better, it's going to seep into your work. And when you give yourself permission to explore the grottiest bits of your psyche (like Louis CK) (who totally stole that move from me) (not really), to exaggerate the edge of the rustiest blades of your IRL mind, you'll occasionally come up with something that holds real power.”

Giving Trying Mind Wells Real Moving Father Bits Failing Edges Come Up Hopefully Permission Blades Real Power

Author:Roy Kesey

“I didn't intentionally emplace the raw material needed for political/allegorical readings into any of the first drafts, but sooner or later I saw it coming, and I did intentionally not cut it from some of the final drafts. In other words, I'm not particularly interested in encouraging readers to read certain stories that way, but I want to make sure that route's accessible should anyone be so inclined.”

Way Want Should Firsts Stories Political Certain Reading Saws Cutting Materials Reader Needed Finals Sooner Or Later Routes Raw Materials

Author:Roy Kesey

“We should absolutely be concerned with ethical questions - to exactly the same degree as everyone else. It's never my intention to sneak any kind of sermon into a story - I've got no business preaching, and besides, that kind of thing plays poorly in fiction, always has.”

Should Kind Play Stories Fiction Degrees Concerned Intention Ethical Preaching Sermons Sneak Ethical Questions

Author:Roy Kesey

“If you're paying attention to human interactions - to the gap between who we are and who we think we are, or the gap between what happened and what we remember - you're going to end up thinking (obliquely or otherwise) about what it means to act ethically, and I think that's all to the good.”

Ifs Thinking Humans Mean Ends Remember Attention Happened Pay Attention Who We Are Gaps Interaction Remember You Remembers You

Author:Roy Kesey

“The more difficult question for me is, do you remain successful for what you had done? I don't know. I think success is in your own eyes. But, I don't really want to ever feel like I've achieved success. Because then I'd be spoiled. I want to feel like I need to keep doing more. Maybe I get "content," "settled," and "success" confused. I never want to settle, but I would love to be content.”

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Author:Derek Waters

“You know when you're doing something right and when you're doing something wrong. As long as you feel like you're doing something right, and you're getting rewarded, then you're successful. But, if you're judging it on, Well, if I had that, I'd be successful - that doesn't work. I think doing what you love is success. Pretty cheesy. But it's true.”

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Author:Derek Waters

“One of the biggest problems with the Internet: people thinking they know something or are participating in or experiencing something when they aren't. Or, how people think they are staying in touch with their friends by "liking" their pictures.”

People Thinking Knows Problem Internet Staying Participating Experiencing Something

Author:Derek Waters

“Just because you "liked" my picture, doesn't mean you shouldn't call me and ask me how I'm doing. You know what's funny? If you ever owe someone a call, and it's something you're trying to avoid, notice how many times they "like" your photos until you call them back. It's an alarm, and people abuse that. They know you can see that. They know you'll see their name.”

People Ifs Knows Trying Mean Asks Names Like You Abuse Ask Me Call Me Alarms Doing You

Author:Derek Waters