“I'm not a reader of young adult fiction for the simple reason that these novelists are writing for adolescents, so they are not writing for me.” WritingReasonYoungSimpleFictionReaderAdultsYoung AdultNovelists Author:Robert Cormier
“My motto is: write about anything you bloody well like; just make sure you do it effectively. We've all had all the emotions, the rest is research and that leap which some can do and others cannot - it's not really something you can learn, otherwise all academics of literature would be wonderful fiction writers.” WritingWellsWould BeLiteratureCan DoEmotionFictionWonderfulResearchLeapBloodyMottoFiction WritersMy Motto Author:Suhayl Saadi
“I know people who've passed every creative writing course under the sun and who are more analytically intelligent and far better-read than I, but who just can't write either fiction or drama. It's like any art-form. In order for talent to be developed, crafted, it's got to be there in the first place.” PeopleKnowsWritingFirstsArtFormOrderCoursesFictionSunCreativeTalentDramaIntelligentCreative Writing Author:Suhayl Saadi
“It's kind of alarming for me to realize that, when I'm writing stories about times I remember, it's already historical fiction.” WritingKindStoriesRememberRealizingFictionHistoricalHistorical FictionWriting Stories Author:Wendell Berry
“In a democracy in the 20th and 21st century, if you can't base your fiction upon ordinary people and the issues that engage them, then you are reduced to writing about spectacular unreal people. You know, James Bond or something, and you cook up adventures.” PeopleIfsKnowsWritingFictionDemocracyIssuesCenturyAdventureOrdinaryCooks21st CenturyOrdinary PeopleSpectacularUnreal Author:John Updike
“If I write a paragraph and I don't get a certain lift from it, if I don't feel connected to it emotionally, then it's dead to me. When I'm reading other fiction writers, if I don't get any emotional investment from the writer, if it's just intellectual or clever - you know, most writing that passes as deep is just clever - I don't feel any connection.” IfsKnowsFeelsWritingCertainReadingFictionEmotionalIntellectualConnectionsInvestmentConnectedCleverLiftsParagraphFiction WritersEmotional Investment Author:Oscar Hijuelos
“Maybe I'm perverse, but the question of "rooting" for a character, or setting out to write a character for whom other people will root, has never had anything to do with why I read or write fiction. As long as the writing and story remain alive, intense, invigorating, provoking, the characters can be as demonic or saintly as the author wants.” PeopleWantWritingLongCharacterStoriesFictionAliveRootsIntenseSettingSettingsProvokingDemonicInvigorating Author:James Lasdun
“Incidentally, I am intrigued by how many European and Latin American writers expressed their political views in the columns they routinely wrote or write in the popular press, like Saramago, Vargas Llosa, and Eco. This strikes me as one way of avoiding opinionated fiction, and allowing your imagination a broader latitude. Similarly, fiction writers from places like India and Pakistan are commonly expected to provide primers to their country's histories and present-day conflicts. But we haven't had that tradition in Anglo-America.” WayWritingCountryAmericaPoliticalImaginationViewsFictionHavensConflictTraditionIndiaPressesExpectedStrikesOne WayLatinAllowingAvoidingPakistanColumnsLatin AmericaIntriguedPresent DayFiction WritersEcoOpinionatedAmerican WriterLatitudePolitical ViewLatin AmericanIndia And Pakistan Author:Pankaj Mishra
“There are some serious limitations in Mo Yan's situation as a writer in China today - just as there are for Jia Zhangke, one of the world's greatest film directors. He can only phrase his dissent obliquely, in his art. Writers in "free" societies labor under no such constraints. They can write more or less whatever they want in both their fiction and their commentary. Yet so many of them look oddly inhibited, even timid, and depressingly a couple of prominent figures actually positioned themselves to the right of their governments, intelligence agencies, and corporations.” WorldWantWritingLooksArtGovernmentTodayFilmFictionSituationFiguresSeriousCoupleDirectorsLaborChinaLimitationCorporationsPhrasesAgencyDissentConstraintsCommentaryFree SocietyProminentFilm DirectorsIntelligence Agencies Author:Pankaj Mishra
“I believe that all fiction is personal and all writing is at some level personal.” WritingBelieveI BelieveLevelsFiction Author:Kwame Dawes
“I certainly wake up every morning and thank God that I'm not a novelist because the theater is tough, but novel writing is infinitely harder. Especially with the economics of serious fiction being what they are in America.” WritingAmericaFictionMorningNovelSeriousToughEconomicsHarderWake UpTheaterNovelistsThank GodEvery MorningNovel Writing Author:Tony Kushner
“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” LifeWritingTruthBeautifulLyingFictionBad AssFiction WritingFiction WritersWriting FictionReading And WritingWriters ReadingReading WritingRealistic Fiction Book:Danse Macabre Source: Danse Macabre
“It takes some courage to write fiction about politically controversial topics. The dread is you'll be labeled a political writer.” WritingPoliticalFictionDreadTopicsControversialControversial Topics Author:Barbara Kingsolver
“I know I'm a rare person, a trained scientist who writes fiction, because so few contemporary novelists engage with science.” KnowsWritingPersonsFictionScientistContemporaryNovelistsRare Person Author:Barbara Kingsolver
“I learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me.” WayWritingFictionBored Author:Jonathan Lethem
“The best way to tell people about climate change is through non-fiction. There's a vast literature of outstanding writing on the subject.” PeopleWayWritingLiteratureFictionSubjectsClimateClimate ChangeBest WayOutstandingNon Fiction Author:Ian Mcewan