“If you think of a work of fiction as a kind of scale model of the world, then the positive valences - where things turn out better than you thought they would - ought to be in there somewhere, too.” IfsThinkingWorldKindTurnsFictionOughtModelsScalesBetter Than You Author:George Saunders
“For those whose ganglia were formed pre-TV, the mimetic deployment of pop-culture icons seems at best an annoying tic and at worst a dangerous vapidity that compromises fiction's seriousness by dating it out of the Platonic Always, where it ought to reside.” SeemsCultureFictionWorstDangerousTvsOughtDatingPopsCompromiseAnnoyingSeriousnessPop CultureIconsDeploymentPlatonicTics Author:Jonathan Lethem
“[Among the books he chooses, a statesman] ought to read interesting books on history and government, and books of science and philosophy; and really good books on these subjects are as enthralling as any fiction ever written in prose or verse.” BookPhilosophyGovernmentScienceInterestingFictionHistoryWrittenSubjectsOughtAccountsProseVersesGood BookStatesmenScience And PhilosophyInteresting Book Book:Bully! Source: Bully!
“Journalism only tells us what men are doing; it is fiction that tells us what they are thinking, and still more what they are feeling. If a new scientific theory finds the soul of a man in his dreams, at least it ought not to leave out his day-dreams. And all fiction is only a diary of day-dreams instead of days. And this profound preoccupation of men's minds with certain things always eventually has an effect even on the external expression of the age.” IfsThinkingMenMindStillsSoulFeelingsDreamAgeCertainFictionEffectsExpressionTheoryOughtProfoundJournalismDiariesPreoccupationScientific Theory Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
“In employing fiction to make truth clear and goodness attractive, we are only following the example which every Christian ought to propose to himself.” ChristianFictionClearExampleOughtGoodnessFollowingAttractiveProposeEmploying Author:Thomas B. Macaulay
“Lester del Rey told me repeatedly that the first and most important part of writing fiction is just to think about the story. Don't write anything down. Don't try to pull anything together right away. Just dream for a while and see what happens. There isn't any timetable involved, no measuring stick for how long it ought to take. For each book, it is different. But that period of thinking, of reflection, is crucial to how successful your story will turn out to be.” ThinkingWritingTryingFirstsLongImportantBookDifferentStoriesDreamHappensTogetherTurnsFictionSuccessfulOughtInvolvedPeriodsReflectionSticksCrucialMeasuringWriting FictionTimetables Author:Terry Brooks
“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