“Readers have actually changed the way I've done things, changed the course of my career even, about four or five times. Just from reader feedback.” WayDoneCoursesCareersFiveFourChangedReaderThings ChangeFeedback Author:Debbie Macomber
“Every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn't have before. Not two thoughts, or five - just one. So decide what single point you want to leave in the reader's mind.” WantShouldMindTwoSuccessfulFivePiecesReaderJust OneNonfictionProvocative Author:William Zinsser
“Nearly all the writing of our time is likely to disappear in a hundred years. Certainly most readers - and nearly all critics - feel that [Kurt] Vonnegut started to repeat himself, to grow increasingly self-indulgent and meandering, and to sometimes just blather in his later work. But his books up to "Slaughterhouse-Five" do possess a distinctiveness that will insure some kind of permanence, if only in the history of the 1960s and of science fiction.” IfsFeelsWritingYearsKindBookSelfSometimesGrowsFictionFiveReaderHundredScience FictionCriticsDisappearOur TimeRepeats1960sPermanenceSelf IndulgentSlaughterhousesSlaughterhouse FiveBlather Author:Michael Dirda
“Proust has been dead since 1922, yet the annual appearance of his posthumous works has left him, to the reader, alive. Now there is nothing left to publish. Five years after his interment, Proust seems dead for the first time.” YearsFirstsHas BeensSeemsLeftFiveAliveReaderFirst TimeAppearanceFive YearsPublishAnnualsProustPosthumous Author:Janet Flanner
“The key to good worldbuilding is leaving out most of what you create. You, as the author, had damn well better know the where all that dragon food comes from, but that doesn't mean that I, as a reader, want to read a five thousand word essay about you explaining it to me. I don't need to see the math, but I can tell by the details you provide whether or not you've thought these things through to their logical conclusions.” KnowsWantNeedsWellsMeanI CanFiveKeysReaderThousandLeavingDetailsMathConclusionDamnDragonsLogicalEssaysExplaining Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“There wasn't very much time between wrapping Revolutionary Road and starting The Reader. It was about five and a half months, which, for me, isn't that long. Some actors are very good at just going from one thing to another but I've always been a bit useless at that. The preparation time is important for me.” LongImportantActorsBitsHalfFiveOne ThingMonthsReaderStartingVery GoodPreparationUselessRevolutionaryWrapping Author:Kate Winslet
“It's insane to be a writer and not be a reader. When I'm writing I'm more likely to be reading four or five books at once, just in bits and pieces rather than subjecting myself to a really brilliant book and thinking, "Well what's the point of me writing anything?" I'm more likely to read a book through when I take a break from writing.” ThinkingWritingWellsBookReadingBitsBreakFivePiecesFourReaderBrilliantInsaneBits And Pieces Author:Markus Zusak
“Because, we assume, these days, you just get in a car, you turn the key, and woosh, you're up the road. Or even now, dare I say, you don't turn a key; you get in a car and you're up the road. And yet with this particular car, it was a five-step process to start it. So how do I let the reader know that?” KnowsTurnsProcessStepsFiveCarParticularKeysReaderAssumingDareThese Days Author:Jacqueline Winspear
“I think not in two or three dimensional terms but in five dimensional terms when I consider a novel. There's height, width, and depth, there's the time factor, and then there's the factor which I call the cerebral factor of the reader, the way the reader adjusts to all the other dimensions, which is the fifth dimension.” ThinkingWayTwoThreeTermNovelFiveReaderDepthFactorsHeightDimensionsFifthCerebralWidth Author:Richard Grossman
“The writer trusts nothing she writes-it should be too reckless and alive for that, it should be beautiful and menacing and slightly out of control. . . . Good writing . . . explodes in the reader's face. Whenever the writer writes, it's always three or four or five o'clock in the morning in her head.” ShouldWritingBeautifulFacesThreeMorningFiveFourAliveReaderClockRecklessGood Writing Author:Joy Williams