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Firsts Quotes

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Firsts Quotes

“All we need to do, reader or writer, from first line to final page, is be as open as a book, and be alive to the life in language - on all its levels.”

Needs Firsts Book Language Lines Levels Alive Reader Pages Finals

Author:Ali Smith

“First person allows deeper insight into the protagonist's character. It allows the reader to identify more fully with the protagonist and to share her world quite intimately. So it suits a story focused on one character's personal journey. However, first person shuts out insights into other characters.”

World Firsts Persons Character Stories Journey Share Reader Deeper Insight Focused Suits First Person Protagonists Personal Journey

Author:Juliet Marillier

“First and foremost, I consider myself a storyteller. And I'm endlessly fascinated with people, with what they do and why... and how they feel about it. Which means I'm interested in romance fiction. I was drawn to it, as both a reader and a writer, at the very beginning of my career. It's my kind of storytelling.”

People Feels Firsts Kind Mean Romance Fiction Careers Reader Storytelling Fascinated Storyteller

Author:Debbie Macomber

“The Novelist As Teacher”: “I would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past – with all its imperfections – was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them.”

Ifs Firsts Long Would Be Past Night Acting Teach Novel Teacher Reader Satisfied Novelists Imperfection Behalf Savagery Long Nights

Book:Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism

Source: Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism

“When a novel has 200,000 words, then it is possible for the reader to experience 200,000 delights, and to turn back to the first page of the book and experience them all over again, perhaps more intensely.”

Firsts Book Turns Novel Reader Pages Delight

Author:Jane Smiley

“Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant as a standard of judging well; the chiefest part of which is to observe those excellencies which delight a reasonable reader.”

Firsts Wells Judging Reader Standards Criticism Delight Reasonable

Book:The Works of John Dryden, Volume XII: Plays Ambboyna, The State of Innocence, Aureng-Zebe

Source: The Works of John Dryden, Volume XII: Plays Ambboyna, The State of Innocence, Aureng-Zebe

“I don't know if any single book made me want to write. C.S. Lewis was the first writer to make me aware that somebody was writing the book I was reading - these wonderful parenthetical asides to the reader.”

Ifs Knows Want Writing Firsts Made Book Reading Wonderful Reader

Author:Neil Gaiman

“What are the hallmarks of a competent writer of fiction? The first, it seems to me, is that he should be immensely interested in human beings, and have an eye sharp enough to see into them, and a hand clever enough to draw them as they are. The second is that he should be able to set them in imaginary situations which display the contents of their psyches effectively, and so carry his reader swiftly and pleasantly from point to point of what is called a good story.”

Should Firsts Humans Enough Stories Hands Seems Eye Able Human Beings Fiction Situation Reader Draws Clever Display Imaginary Competent Good Story Hallmark Psych

Author:H. L. Mencken

“There are all sorts of theories and ideas about what constitutes a good opening line. It's tricky thing, and tough to talk about because I don't think conceptually while I work on a first draft -- I just write. To get scientific about it is a little like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. But there's one thing I'm sure about. An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.”

Thinking Knows Want Should Writing Trying Firsts Littles Ideas Stories Lines One Thing Theory Reader Tough Opening Invites Tricky Jars Moonbeams

Author:Stephen King