“It's important, I think, for a writer of fiction to maintain an awareness of the pace and shape of the book as he's writing it. That is, he should be making an object, not chattering.” ThinkingShouldWritingImportantBookFictionAwarenessObjectsShapesPace Author:Thomas Perry
“The annual award of $5,000 goes to an author for a meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults. Scott O'Dell established this award to encourage other writers--particularly new authors--to focus on historical fiction. He hoped in this way to increase the interest of young readers in the historical background that has helped to shape their country and their world.” WorldWayYearsChildrenBookCountryYoungInterestFictionFocusReaderShapesAdultsIncreaseHistoricalYoung AdultBackgroundsAwardsHistorical FictionAnnualsDellPrevious Years Author:Scott O'Dell
“Fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to make us rubbery and easy to shape.” StoriesShowsSeemsBeliefEasyFictionStudyShapesIntellectualEvidenceArgumentMovedCriticalNonfictionSkepticalShields Author:Jonathan Gottschall
“When I was little, I made up my own fairy tales, and the ghostly echo of Once upon a time shapes all the fiction Ive ever written.” LittlesMadeMy OwnFictionWrittenShapesTalesFairyFairy TaleEchoesOnce Upon A TimeJustine Author:Justine Larbalestier
“Do I do as false prophets do and puff air into simulacra? Am I a Sorcerer--like Macbeth's witches--mixing truth and lies in incandescent shapes? Or am I a kind of very minor scribe of a prophetic Book--telling such truth as in me lies, with aid of such fiction as I acknowledge mine, as Prospero acknowledged Caliban.” KindBookLyingFictionAirMinesShapesAidsAcknowledgeProphetWitchMinorsMixingPropheticTruth And LiesPuffFalse ProphetsScribesCalibanProspero Author:A. S. Byatt
“My books deliberately provide no answers or messages. Im drilled in the habit of objectivity and also aware that the steady drip of fiction has more power than facts to shape opinion, so I handle it with caution.” BookFactsAnswersFictionOpinionHabitShapesMessagesHandleSteadyCautionObjectivity Author:Karen Traviss
“Fiction is an elemental force, which has the power to shape reality in its own image - or images, I should say - because reality, like light, exists not only as a single point or particle, but also as an array of possibilities.” ShouldRealityLightForceFictionPossibilityShapesParticlesElementals Author:Ruth Ozeki
“With non-fiction writing I feel like I'm confined and driven by what actually happened. That makes the "plot". So it's a process of getting all of my notes typed up, then scanning through the notes, trying to extract or find certain vignettes that seem like they might write well - that might have a potential for good energy, shape, etc. And then at some point I start stringing these together, keeping an eye on the word count.” FeelsWritingTryingWellsSeemsMightEyeTogetherCertainEnergyProcessFictionHappenedShapesNotesDrivenEtcPlotConfinedNon FictionFiction WritingGood EnergyScanningVignettes Author:George Saunders
“I didn’t like it [computer] when I first began using it. Where it’s helped me a lot is in nonfiction which is a kind of different process. You’ve got research, you’ve got your notes, You can block out what you want to work on for the next 10 pages and put it in another file, and then you can kind of carve it into shape” WantFirstsKindDifferentNextProcessFictionShapesComputerPagesResearchNotesWhat You WantBlockFilesNon Fiction Author:Joan Didion
“We need to find another way or another shape or an allegory or something that tells us more. Even Vagabond - it was a fiction but it was really a documentary. I mean, it has the texture of documentary. Even if I made up every line, it has the texture of being true.” IfsWayNeedsMeanMadeLinesFictionShapesBeing TrueDocumentariesAnother WayTextureAllegoryVagabonds Author:Agnes Varda
“Do you think it interests me that this painting represents two figures? These two figures existed, they exist no more. The sight of them gave me an initial emotion, little by little their real presence grew indistinct they became a fiction for me, then they disappeared, or rather, were turned into problems of all kinds. For me they are no longer two figures but shapes and colours, don't misunderstand me, shapes and colours, though, that sum up the idea of the two figures and preserve the vibration of their existence.” ThinkingKindLittlesTwoIdeasRealProblemInterestEmotionExistenceFictionFiguresPaintingGrewShapesSightAll KindsPreservesColourInitialsVibrations Author:Pablo Picasso
“The shape I'm in, I could donate my body to science fiction.” BodyFictionShapesScience FictionDonate Author:Rodney Dangerfield
“Fiction stymies me with its possibility. I can't see the bottom and I freeze, cling to the side, or just choke. In nonfiction, particularly that which takes personal narrative for its primary topic, I have a finite space and a finite amount of material. I can't fabricate material, I can only shape and burrow into it.” I CanSidesSpaceFictionPossibilityMaterialsAmountShapesBottomPrimariesNarrativeNonfictionTopicsFiniteChokeFreezeFabricate Author:Melissa Febos
“As a fiction writer you train yourself to think about situations subjectively. I don't really care for narratives that are just A, B, C, D, and then E. I like the aura that fiction has, how it can conjure up dream imagery. It's a sort of emotional speculation that you can shape and work with.” ThinkingDreamCareFictionSituationEmotionalShapesTrainNarrativeSpeculationImageryFiction WritersAuras Author:Oscar Hijuelos
“I think a more complex idea of fiction - and the human self's relationship with the world - emerges when we abandon this philistine equation between literature and liberalism and human goodness, and pay some attention to the darker, ambiguous, and often muddled energies and motivations that shape a work of art. If we do this, we can appreciate a writer like Céline or Gottfried Benn without worrying whether they conform to existing notions of political incorrectness.” IfsThinkingWorldHumansArtIdeasSelfPoliticalMotivationLiteratureEnergyLinesPayAttentionFictionWorryShapesGoodnessAppreciateComplexesNotionLiberalismAbandonWorks Of ArtConformEquationsAmbiguousPhilistines Author:Pankaj Mishra