“It takes a long time to write a book. I'm not going to spend that much time trying to deliver a message. The reason I do it is because I want to understand something myself. It's not a delivery device, it's an inquiry device. Didactic fiction to my mind never works. It backfires.” WantWritingTryingMindLongBookReasonFictionMessagesLong TimeDevicesWorking ItInquiryDeliveryDidacticBackfire Author:Ruth Ozeki
“A bad short story or novel or poem leaves one comparatively calm because it does not exist, unless it gets a fake prestige throughbeing mistaken for good work. It is essentially negative, it is something that has not come through. But over bad criticism one has a sense of real calamity.” DoeRealStoriesFictionNovelNegativeCriticismCalmFakeWorking ItShort StoryGood WorkMistakenCalamityPrestigeLiterary Criticism Book:The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews Source: The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews
“I always had a hard time with fiction. It does feel like driving a car in a clown suit. You're going somewhere, but you're in costume, and you're not really fooling anybody. You're the guy in costume, and everybody's supposed to forget that and go along with you. Obviously, it can work, it works all the time - well, it doesn't always work. Still, no matter what, I'm always looking at the form and addressing it, not ignoring it.” FeelsWellsDoeStillsMatterHardFormGuyForgetFictionCarNo Matter WhatDrivingSuitsHard TimesWorking ItCostumesClownSuits You Author:Dave Eggers
“I've had many students over the years, sometimes even very sophisticated students, who will be writing and will hit a wall. Often I find it's because they're working out of sequence. Maybe some people can do that, but I don't think that's how fiction works. It's a discovery.” PeopleThinkingWritingYearsSometimesCan DoFictionStudentsWallDiscoveryWork OutWorking ItSophisticatedSequence Author:T.C. Boyle
“For a long time, I missed being in the courtroom every day. I missed trial work. It was so much a part of my life. It was what I did and who I was. But over the years I did find the opportunity to realize my childhood dream of writing crime fiction.” WritingYearsLongDreamOpportunityRealizingFictionChildhoodCrimeLong TimeTrialsWorking ItCrime FictionCourtroomChildhood Dreams Author:Marcia Clark