“There is, in my mind, no higher compliment to pay a non-fiction book than to say it reads like a novel.” MindBookPayFictionNovelHigherComplimentNon Fiction Author:Jon Weisman
“It is simply much easier to infuse life, feeling, and higher truth into a novel than a non-fiction work, to find the license to write truth without being wedded to fact.” WritingFactsFeelingsFictionNovelHigherEasierLicenseNon Fiction Author:Jon Weisman
“The effect of reading literary non-fiction that matters most to me is when the coin drops, and this happens in the company of the great, mercuric, encyclopedic minds: Empson, Kenneth Burke, Northrop Frye.” MindMatterHappensReadingFictionCompanyEffectsCoinsNon FictionKenneth Author:Paul Fry
“I'm always looking for context in which people tell stories. In "Fight Club" it's these support groups for dying people, and then in "Choke" it's 12-step recovery groups. In one novel it's artists' colonies, in another novel it's a diary form that submariners' wives typically keep so that when their husband comes back from serving on a submarine they have an accounting of their spouse's time. So I'm always looking for, number one, a non-fiction context - because you can tell a more outrageous story if you use a non-fiction form.” PeopleIfsStoriesUseFormArtistFightingNumbersFictionStepsSupportNovelWifeGroupsDyingHusbandClubsRecoveryServingSpouseDiariesNon FictionOutrageousChokeAccountingColonySubmarinesSupport Groups12 Step Recovery12 Step Author:Chuck Palahniuk
“I like writing non-fiction - and when you pick a [non-fiction] subject, it saves you the hassle of coming up with a plot.” WritingFictionSubjectsPicksPlotNon FictionHassle Author:Richard Hell
“One would expect an actress to stand onscreen mostly as a caricature. If she would say, "I'm selling shoes," you would believe her. She says it and it creates this fiction, non-fiction perception of the film. People believe it because she says it. If she said, "I'm a butcher," people would believe it too, I think.” PeopleIfsThinkingBelieveSaidFilmFictionPerceptionShoesActressesSellingNon FictionCaricaturesButchersSelling Shoes Author:Isabelle Huppert
“[I like to read] spiritual books, non-fiction, fiction, I have my moods.” BookSpiritualFictionMoodNon Fiction Author:MC Lyte
“When I read any book, if it's really good I get lost in the writing whether it's fiction or non-fiction. I'm in the story not thinking about who wrote it.” IfsThinkingWritingBookStoriesLostFictionNon Fiction Author:Jeff Feuerzeig
“Because I'm such a creative person, and I've always got my nose in a book, I suppose it was only a matter of time before non-fiction turned into fiction again. But I never consciously set out to become a writer and I never thought I'd be doing the things I'm doing today.” WritingPersonsBookMatterTodayFictionCreativeNosesNon FictionCreative PersonMatter Of Time Author:Paul Kane
“Many Americans have never owned a book. And others have never owned a non-fiction book. Providing them with a 300-page paperback would get them started, maybe. And even if it didn't, at least they'd own that one. So that's a serious problem.” IfsBookProblemFictionSeriousPagesProvidingNon Fiction Author:James W. Loewen
“I always say that writing non-fiction versus writing fiction is a bit like architecture versus abstract painting.” WritingBitsFictionPaintingArchitectureAbstractVersusNon FictionWriting FictionAbstract Painting Author:Andrew Lam
“In non-fiction you have to stay true to historical events, be they personal or national .” FictionEventsHistoricalNon FictionStay TrueHistorical Events Author:Andrew Lam
“Any documentary; any capturing of a non-fiction event, is a hyper-realistic condensation of reality that hopefully reveals an emotional truth. It's never the actual literal truth of an event.” RealityFictionEventsEmotionalHopefullyRealisticDocumentariesNon FictionLiteralHyperCondensation Author:Joe Berlinger
“I'm very interested in film making. It's telling a story, fiction or non-fiction. I have been filmed quite a lot. Contrary to popular belief, filming isn't glamorous. It can be wearingly repetitious, as the same shot is taken over and over again.” Has BeensStoriesFilmBeliefFictionTakenShotsContraryNon FictionGlamorousContrary To Popular Belief Author:Stephen Hawking
“My documentaries have always been very much constructed in the spirit of dominant cinema. From the time I started making non-fiction, I was mainly interested in designing and creating documentaries like fiction, so it was a natural evolution to try and embark on doing a dramatic narrative.” TryingSpiritNaturalFictionDesignEvolutionCreatingNarrativeCinemaDramaticDominantDocumentariesNon Fiction Author:Brett Morgen
“I try and make non-fiction films that feel like fiction, so I'm always looking for the subtext and that's what really excites me.” FeelsTryingFilmFictionNon FictionSubtext Author:Brett Morgen
“There is really no fiction or non-fiction; there is only narrative. One mode of perception has no greater claim on the truth than the other; that the distance has perhaps to do with distance - narrative distance - from the characters; it has to do with the kind of voice that is talking, but it certainly hasn't to do with the common distribution between fact and imagination.” KindCharacterFactsVoiceImaginationCommonFictionTalkingGreaterPerceptionClaimsDistanceNarrativeDistributionNon Fiction Author:E. L. Doctorow
“I like to think that one of things I've done with non-fiction since the very beginning is to find new ways of telling true stories.” ThinkingWayDoneStoriesFictionNew WaysNon FictionTrue Story Author:Errol Morris
“I came to fantasy fairly late. For some ten years, I had been happily writing fiction and non-fiction for adults. But I always loved fantasy, whether for adults or young people; and at that particular point in my life, I wanted to try it, to understand it, as part of the process of learning to be a writer. The results were beyond anything I could have foreseen. As I've said often and elsewhere, it was the most creative and liberating experience of my life.” PeopleWritingTryingYearsSaidWantedYoungProcessResultsFictionFantasyCreativeParticularTenLateAdultsElsewhereLiberatingNon FictionWriting FictionForeseen Author:Lloyd Alexander
“I make non-fiction partly because I'm not that good of a writer. My talent, if I have any, is in balancing, capturing and directing reality, rather than creating scenarios.” IfsRealityFictionTalentCreatingScenariosNon Fiction Author:Robert Greene
“I just think there's something in the non-fiction form that allows you to see things clearly, if you're patient.” IfsThinkingFormFictionPatientNon Fiction Author:Robert Greene
“It's true that I don't rearrange that much in the fiction, but I feel if you change even one name or the order of one event then you have to call it fiction or you get all the credits of non-fiction without paying the price.” IfsFeelsOrderNamesFictionEventsCreditNon Fiction Author:Nicholson Baker
“The idea of a flip book still really appeals to me. That idea of fiction and non-fiction.” StillsBookIdeasFictionAppealsNon FictionFlip Author:Yann Martel
“The best way to tell people about climate change is through non-fiction. There's a vast literature of outstanding writing on the subject.” PeopleWayWritingLiteratureFictionSubjectsClimateClimate ChangeBest WayOutstandingNon Fiction Author:Ian Mcewan