“The two worst sins of bad taste in fiction are pornography and sentimentality. One is too much sex and the other too much sentiment.” TwoSexSinFictionToo MuchWorstTasteSentimentsPornographySentimentalityBad Taste Author:Flannery O'Connor
“Believe it or not, friendships are difficult to write in fiction. They can easily come across as forced, particularly if they involve too much explication and too many overt gestures of affection.” IfsWritingBelieveDifficultFictionToo MuchAffectionGesturesNot Friends Author:Steven Erikson
“The literature now is so opaque to the average person that you couldn't take a science-fiction short story that's published now and turn it into a movie. There'd be way too much ground work you'd have to lay. It's OK to have detail and density, but if you rely on being a lifelong science-fiction fan to understand what the story is about, then it's not going to translate to a broader audience.” IfsWayPersonsStoriesTurnsLiteratureFictionAudienceToo MuchFansScience FictionLaysAverageDetailsRelyShort StoryTranslateLifelongAverage PersonDensityOpaque Author:James Cameron
“In a sense, journalism can be both helpful and detrimental to a writer of fiction because the kind of writing you need to do as a journalist is so different. It has to be clear, unambiguous, concise, and as a writer often you are trying to do things that are more ambiguous. I find that writing fiction is often an antidote to reading and writing too much journalism.” NeedsWritingTryingKindDifferentReadingFictionClearToo MuchJournalismJournalistHelpfulAntidoteAmbiguousWriting FictionReading And WritingDetrimentalConcise Author:Aravind Adiga
“What I read: while I'm writing, I tend to go off reading fiction for relaxation - especially the challenging stuff. It's too much like the day job.” WritingJobsReadingStuffChallengesFictionToo MuchRelaxationDay JobsReading Fiction Author:Charles Stross
“I think poetry is the best thing I do. It's certainly the purest. I seem to switch gears without too much trouble. Non-fiction is in many ways the easiest to write.” ThinkingWayWritingSeemsFictionToo MuchTroubleBest ThingsPoetry IsNon FictionGears Author:Erica Jong
“I guess...on one hand, I spent way too much time watching science fiction and reading science fiction when I was growing up. But a part of it is I also never felt much of a connection to the world in which I lived while I was growing up, and so, oddly enough, I think I felt a lot more connected to the worlds that I read about in science fiction.” ThinkingWorldWayEnoughHandsReadingFeltFictionGrowing UpToo MuchGrowingConnectionsScience FictionConnected Author:Moby
“History - the non-fiction version - must inform the fiction to make it truthful; too much of it and your genres are colliding.” FictionToo MuchVersionsGenreTruthfulNon Fiction Author:Jon Weisman
“I think I was shown Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas at seven or eight. That's really bad. I think I've turned out all right; it didn't harm me too much.” ThinkingFictionToo MuchSevenEightHarmPulp Author:Ed Speleers
“There used to be a category called women's fiction - meaning not too rude, not too much sex, a bit domestic and internal. Women have changed so much. We're so varied. And we've become more interested in the same varied experience in fiction.” UsedSexBitsFictionToo MuchChangedUsed To BeInternalsCategoriesRude Author:Janet Fitch