“A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell them to read the story. The meaning of fiction is not abstract meaning but experienced meaning.” WayWritingSaidStoriesWould BeAsksFictionStatementsAbstractInadequate Book:Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose Source: Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
“You asked if I thought my fiction had changed anything in the culture and the answer is no. Sure, there's been some scandal, but people are scandalized all the time; it's a way of life for them. It doesn't mean a thing. If you ask if I want my fiction to change anything in the culture, the answer is still no. What I want is to possess my readers while they are reading my book if I can, to possess them in ways that other writers don't. Then let them return, just as they were, to a world where everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt, and control them.” PeopleIfsWorldWayWantMeanStillsI CanBookCultureReadingAsksAnswersFictionChangedReturnReaderScandal Book:Conversations with Philip Roth Source: Conversations with Philip Roth
“There are two kinds of characters in all fiction, the born and the synthetic. If the writer has to ask himself questions - is he tall, is he short? - he had better quit.” IfsKindTwoCharacterAsksBornFictionQuittingTallSynthetic Author:Rex Stout
“Well, good science fiction is intelligent. It asks big questions that are on people's minds. It's not impossible. It has some sort of root in the abstract. So automatically you're getting closer to potentially divine sources of interest because it is abstract. It's one of the only ways that a film actor can express himself in the abstract and have audiences still go along for the ride. They don't contend it. They accept it, that they're going to go places that are a bit more of the imagination, a bit more out there, and that's more and more where I like to dance.” PeopleWayMindWellsStillsBigsFilmActorsAsksBitsInterestImaginationFictionAcceptingAudienceImpossibleDivineSourceRootsIntelligentScience FictionAbstractBig QuestionsAlong For The RideFilm ActorsGood Science Author:Nicolas Cage
“In a dispassionate comparison of the relative values of human and robotic spaceflight, the only surviving motivation for continuing human spaceflight is the ideology of adventure. But only a tiny number of Earth's six billion inhabitants are direct participants. For the rest of us, the adventure is vicarious and akin to that of watching a science fiction movie. At the end of the day, I ask myself whether the huge national commitment of technical talent to human spaceflight and the ever-present potential for the loss of precious human life are really justifiable.” HumansEndsEarthMotivationValuesAsksLossNumbersFictionTalentAdventureHugeSixCommitmentDirectScience FictionBillionsTinyIdeologyHuman LifeThe End Of The DayComparisonRelativeContinuingSurvivingParticipantsRoboticsSpace TravelDispassionateVicariousSpaceflightScience Fiction MovieRelative Value Author:James Van Allen
“Listen to others as if they are telling you the truth, ask questions when you aren't clear, and allow others the room to have different feelings than you. No more assigning hidden motives, prejudging and cutting people off before separating fact from fiction.” PeopleIfsDifferentFactsFeelingsAsksRoomsFictionClearCuttingMotiveSeparatingDifferent Feelings Author:Rhonda Britten
“In my opinion there are two basic questions that any writer tries to answer. "What is?" is the question non-fiction asks. "What if?" is the question fiction asks. That's the question I'm more interested in.” IfsTryingTwoAsksAnswersFictionOpinionWhat IfNon Fiction Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“Just as art brings you to another place, so does religion - and to ask questions of factuality tends to reduce both. If you say you were inspired by a novel, that implies that your book is a work of fiction.” IfsDoeArtBookAsksFictionNovelInspired Author:Yann Martel
“And while dollars have little to do with it, the fiction writer should be asking the same question any capable film producer would ask: Is this scene truly necessary? It is the kind of thinking that, put into practice, results in a story with a sense of energy and direction.” ThinkingShouldKindLittlesStoriesFilmAsksEnergyResultsFictionPracticeSceneCapableAskingDollarsProducersFiction Writers Author:Les Standiford
“Hopefully, great science fiction films help you think about issues that relate to yourself, whether it's: What's my purpose? Why am I here? What is it that makes me who I am? Those are the kind of questions my favorite science fiction films ask.” ThinkingKindHelpingFilmPurposeAsksFictionIssuesScience FictionMy FavoriteWho I AmHopefullyRelateGreat Science Author:Joseph Kosinski
“It's just science fiction so it's allowed to be silly, and childish, and stupid. It's just science fiction, so it doesn't have to make sense. It's just science fiction, so you must ask nothing more of it than loud noises and flashing lights.” LightAsksFictionStupidScience FictionSillyNoiseMake SenseLoudBeing SillyLoud NoisesFlashing Lights Author:Isaac Asimov
“Writing is very castrating in the moment. Fiction in general, it has no function, nobody asks for it.” WritingMomentsAsksFictionFunction Author:Etgar Keret
“I would ask the people who were generous toward my own work. After class one day a poetry professor said to me, "Hey, there's this guy Basho you would find interesting," and so I found Basho. A fiction teacher told me, "You ought to read Clarice Lispector if you're interested in that sort of in-between stuff," and then Lispector appeared. It's not magic. You just keep your eyes open.” PeopleIfsSaidEyeGuyAsksFoundStuffMy OwnInterestingFictionClassTeacherMagicOughtOne DayHeyGenerousProfessorsThis Guy Author:John D'Agata
“Sometimes journalists ask me, "What's the message?" There is no message. I think that fiction should not be trying to give messages. Just tell a story.” ThinkingGivingShouldTryingSometimesStoriesAsksFictionMessagesJournalistAsk Me Author:Isabel Allende
“There are plenty of characters of color in fantasy and science fiction. But when you ask the question, "How many of them on-screen have rich, thought-out backgrounds and family elements to draw on?," you quickly find out that the answer is not very many.” CharacterAsksAnswersFictionFantasyRichColorElementsDrawsScience FictionScreensBackgroundsPlenty Author:Stephen H. Segal
“My general approach to writing fiction is that you try to have as few conceptual notions as possible and you just respond to the energy that the story is making rather than having a big over plan. I think if you have a big over plan, the danger is that you might just take your plan and then you bore everybody. I always joke that it's like going on a date with index cards. You know, at 7:30 p.m. I should ask about her mother. You keep all the control to yourself but you are kind of insulting to the other person.” IfsThinkingKnowsShouldWritingTryingKindPersonsStoriesBigsMightMotherAsksEnergyFictionPlansDangerApproachJokesNotionCardsBoresInsultingWriting Fiction Author:George Saunders
“Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life.” LooksPersonsEyeAsksFictionNovelEmpathyThrough The EyesAnother Life Author:Barbara Kingsolver