“Until recently we’ve only been able to speculate about story's persuasive effects. But over the last several decades psychology has begun a serious study of how story affects the human mind. Results repeatedly show that our attitudes, fears, hopes, and values are strongly influenced by story. In fact, fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than writing that is specifically designed to persuade through argument and evidence.” WritingMindHumansFactsStoriesShowsSeemsAbleLastsValuesBeliefResultsAttitudeFictionStudyPsychologyEffectsSeriousEvidenceArgumentDecadesHuman MindPersuasive Author:Jonathan Gottschall
“Peter Watts has taken the core myths of the First Contact story and shaken them to pieces. The result is a shocking and mesmerizing performance, a tour-de-force of provocative and often alarming ideas. It is a rare novel that has the potential to set science fiction on an entirely new course. Blindsight is such a book.” FirstsBookIdeasStoriesCoursesForceResultsFictionNovelTakenPiecesPerformancesScience FictionMythCoreContactPeterShockingProvocativeFirst ContactMesmerizing Author:Karl Schroeder
“I stopped writing short fiction early on - I was never really good at it, and I never liked the results. So I stopped trying to fit the material I was working with into these tidy little short fiction packages.” WritingTryingLittlesResultsFictionMaterialsFitPackagesTidyWriting Short Author:Susan Choi
“In a way, being a Mormon prepares you to deal with science fiction, because we live simultaneously in two very different cultures. The result is that we all know what it's like to be strangers in a strange land. It's not just a coincidence that there are so many effective Mormon science fiction writers. We don't regard being an alien as an alien experience. But it also means that we're not surprised when people don't understand what we're saying or what we think.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayMeanTwoDifferentScienceReligionCultureSpaceResultsDealsFictionTechnologyLandStrangeRegardScience FictionStrangerIdeologyAliensCoincidenceFiction WritersDifferent CulturesStranger In A Strange Land Author:Orson Scott Card
“As a result of reading science fiction when I was eight, I grew up with an interest in music, architecture, city planning, transportation, politics, ethics, aesthetics on any level, art...it's just total! It's a complete commitment to the whole human race on all the Earth. That's what science fiction is about.” HumansArtWholeEarthReadingInterestLevelsResultsRaceCitiesFictionGrewGrew UpEthicsCommitmentScience FictionEightArchitecturePlanningHuman RaceAestheticsTransportationCity Planning Author:Ray Bradbury
“Whatever alleged 'truth' is proven by results to be but an empty fiction, let it be unceremoniously flung into the outer darkness, among the dead gods, dead empires, dead philosophies, and other useless lumber and wreckage!” PhilosophyResultsFictionDarknessTruth IsEmptyUselessEmpiresProvenWreckageLumberMight Is Right Author:Anton Szandor LaVey
“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
“Read Mann's notes, which contain precise accounts of cholera and its symptoms, and observe how careful he is throughout his fiction in getting medical details straight - then you might begin to wonder whether cholera is the only candidate for the cause of Aschenbach's death. What results from this, I think, is a deeper appreciation of Mann's brilliance in keeping so many possibilities in play. The ambiguity is even more artful than people have realized.” PeopleThinkingPlayMightCausesResultsFictionWonderPossibilityAccountsNotesDetailsCarefulAppreciationDeeperMedicalCandidatesPreciseSymptomsAmbiguityBrillianceCholera Author:Philip Kitcher
“I think fiction allows you to inhabit new domains and it's you, the reader living in that domain for a few days that results in a deeper understanding as opposed to the novel proclaiming this is what it is right and this is what is wrong.” ThinkingUnderstandingResultsFictionNovelReaderDeeperDomainProclaimingDeeper Understanding Author:Mohsin Hamid
“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