“I'm a reluctant writer of non-fiction, in part because I don't really feel qualified.” FeelsFictionQualifiedNon FictionReluctant Author:William Gibson
“In, 1950, at the age, 19 I dropped out of St. George William College in Montreal, as it then was, and sailed for England on the Franconia. Foolishly, no arrogantly, believing I could put Canada and its picayune problems behind me, never dreaming it would become the raw material of most of my fiction and non-fiction. Or that I would care so deeply about its surviving intact.” BelieveProblemDreamCareAgeBehindsFictionCollegeMaterialsEnglandCanadaSurvivingNon FictionRaw MaterialsMontreal Author:Mordecai Richler
“Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear, misheard words or lyrics, dreams” PeopleKnowsStoriesShowsDreamInspirationFilmFictionTvsSourceNewsReportsTv ShowsNon Fiction Author:Trudi Canavan
“The most difficult part of writing a book is not devising a plot which will captivate the reader. It's not developing characters the reader will have strong feelings for or against. It is not finding a setting which will take the reader to a place he or she as never been. It is not the research, whether in fiction or non-fiction. The most difficult task facing a writer is to find the voice in which to tell the story.” WritingBookCharacterStoriesFeelingsStrongDifficultVoiceFictionReaderFindingsResearchTasksSettingSettingsDevelopingPlotNon FictionWriting A BookStrong FeelingDifficult TasksDevising Author:Randy Pausch
“Im omnivorous in my tastes, fiction and non-fiction, always several books on the go, though Ill read a novel in a day or two.” TwoBookFictionNovelTasteIllNon Fiction Author:O.R. Melling
“I grew up poor in crappy situations various crappy situations. What kept me sane was reading and music. I had so many different literary tastes growing up, be it fiction like Stephen King or Piers Anthony or non-fiction like reading Hunter S. Thompson essays or reading the Beats. I was a huge fan of the Beat movement.” DifferentReadingPoorFictionSituationGrowing UpGrowingFansMovementHugeGrewKingsTasteGrew UpBeatsVariousSaneHuntersEssaysNon FictionPiersHunter's Thompson Author:Corey Taylor
“I'm a novelist, I'm not an activist. I'm not a non-fiction writer, I'm not a journalist. I'm not a foodie, I'm not even really an animal person, or an environmentalist. I did the best I could with this, but it's not who I am.” PersonsAnimalFictionWho I AmJournalistNovelistsActivistNon FictionFiction WritersEnvironmentalist Author:Jonathan Safran Foer
“I write my first draft by hand, at least for fiction. For non-fiction, I write happily on a computer, but for fiction I write by hand, because I'm trying to achieve a kind of thoughtless state, or an unconscious instinctive state. I'm not reading what I write when I wrote. It's an unconscious outpouring that's a mess, and it's many, many steps away from anything anyone would want to read. Creating that way seems to generate the most interesting material for me to work with, though.” WayWantWritingTryingFirstsKindStatesHandsSeemsReadingInterestingFictionStepsAchieveMaterialsComputerCreatingMessUnconsciousMost InterestingNon Fiction Author:Jennifer Egan
“Any woman who wishes to be an intellectual, to write non-fiction, to deal with theory, faces a lot of discrimination coming her way and perhaps even self-doubt because there aren't that many who've gone before you. And I think that the most powerful tool we can have is to be clear about our intent. To know what it is we want to do rather than going into institutions thinking that the institution is going to frame for us.” ThinkingKnowsWayWantWritingSelfFacesWishDealsPowerfulFictionGoneClearDoubtTheoryIntellectualToolsInstitutionsDiscriminationMost PowerfulNon FictionSelf-doubt Author:Bell Hooks
“I cannot say how strongly I object to people using other people's writing as research. Research is non-fiction, especially for horror, fantasy, science fiction. Do not take your research from other people's fiction. Just don't.” PeopleWritingLiteratureFictionFantasyObjectsHorrorResearchScience FictionNon Fiction Author:Laurell K. Hamilton
“I was trained mainly as a short story writer and that's how I started writing, but I've also become very interested in non-fiction, just because I got a couple of magazine jobs when I was really poor and needed the money and it turned out that non-fiction was much more interesting than I thought it was.” WritingStoriesJobsInterestingPoorFictionCoupleNeededMagazinesShort StoryNon FictionStory Writers Author:David Foster Wallace
“I don't think people are averse to thinking about things in a deep way, but we have limited time and opportunity to think about things in a deep way. I think that's why there is an appetite for non-fiction - it gives people the opportunity to reexamine ordinary experience and be smarter about it.” PeopleThinkingWayGivingOpportunityFictionOrdinaryAppetiteSmarterNon FictionLimited Time Author:Malcolm Gladwell
“My non-fiction films are pretty much fiction, or at least close... It's all "movies" for me. I never have searched for a subject. They always just come along. They never come by way of decision-making. They just haunt me. I can't get rid of them. I did not invite them.” WayI CanFilmDecisionFictionSubjectsDecision MakingInvitesNon Fiction Author:Werner Herzog
“I honestly believe that everything I know about the writing of non-fiction (or writing) could be engraved on the head of a pin with a garden hoe.” KnowsWritingBelieveFictionGardenHonestlyPinsNon FictionEngravedHoe Author:M. F. K. Fisher
“Without books we're a very uneducated society. Think of the places books have taken us, the people we've been introduced to (fiction or non-fiction) and how books have allowed us to broaden our vocabulary.” PeopleThinkingBookFictionTakenVocabularyNon FictionUneducated Author:Tom Robinson
“A couple of pieces of advice for the kids who are serious about writing are: first of all, to read everything you can get your hands on so you can become familiar with different forms of writing: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, journalism. That's very important. And also keep a journal. Not so much, because it's good writing practice. Although it is, but more because it's a wonderful source of story starters.” WritingFirstsImportantDifferentStoriesHandsKidsFormFictionPracticePiecesWonderfulAdviceSeriousSourceCoupleFamiliarJournalismJournalNon FictionGood WritingWriting FictionStarters Author:Ann M. Martin
“I'd be surprised if non-fiction writers hate to be interviewed. We all hate them, because there's really nothing to say except "Read the book." Right? At least with non-fiction, you can kind of convey some information, and people can decide for themselves whether they want more of that kind of information. But with a novel, what am I going to do?” PeopleIfsWantKindBookHateFictionNovelInformationNon FictionFiction Writers Author:Jonathan Franzen
“That is as true for fiction or non-fiction. The writer has to really know their subject. It is really important to remember that the readers are a lot smarter than the writer. Also, good writing has to do with rewriting. You will never get it right the first time. So you rewrite and rewrite again until you get it right. Until you, and the reader, will be able to visualize what you're writing about.” KnowsWritingFirstsImportantAbleRememberFictionSubjectsReaderFirst TimeSmarterNon FictionGood WritingRewriting Author:Michael Scott
“To my mind, the prose in a non-fiction work that's going to endure has to be of the same quality as the prose in a work of fiction that endures.” MindFictionQualityEndureProseNon Fiction Author:Robert Caro
“I've always felt that no one understands why some books of non-fiction endure and some don't, because there's not much understanding among many non-fiction writers that the narrative is terribly important.” ImportantBookFeltUnderstandingFictionEndureNarrativeNon FictionFiction Writers Author:Robert Caro
“In my opinion there are two basic questions that any writer tries to answer. "What is?" is the question non-fiction asks. "What if?" is the question fiction asks. That's the question I'm more interested in.” IfsTryingTwoAsksAnswersFictionOpinionWhat IfNon Fiction Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“With non-fiction writing I feel like I'm confined and driven by what actually happened. That makes the "plot". So it's a process of getting all of my notes typed up, then scanning through the notes, trying to extract or find certain vignettes that seem like they might write well - that might have a potential for good energy, shape, etc. And then at some point I start stringing these together, keeping an eye on the word count.” FeelsWritingTryingWellsSeemsMightEyeTogetherCertainEnergyProcessFictionHappenedShapesNotesDrivenEtcPlotConfinedNon FictionFiction WritingGood EnergyScanningVignettes Author:George Saunders
“The one thing fiction and non-fiction writing have in common for me is that sense of trying to get the sentences to be minimal but at the same time be a little overfull - to encourage them to do a kind of poetic work.” WritingTryingKindLittlesCommonFictionOne ThingSentencesPoeticNon FictionFiction Writing Author:George Saunders
“I didn’t like it [computer] when I first began using it. Where it’s helped me a lot is in nonfiction which is a kind of different process. You’ve got research, you’ve got your notes, You can block out what you want to work on for the next 10 pages and put it in another file, and then you can kind of carve it into shape” WantFirstsKindDifferentNextProcessFictionShapesComputerPagesResearchNotesWhat You WantBlockFilesNon Fiction Author:Joan Didion
“I love the opportunity to just let my imagination run riot! Non-fiction can be very restrictive.” RunningOpportunityImaginationFictionMy ImaginationNon FictionRiot Author:Raymond Buckland
“I don't write non-fiction because I get bored. Some of my writing is autobiographical, but not the way readers imagine. I use my memory of settings, events and people. I weave history into my stories, but my narratives are made up.” PeopleWayWritingMadeStoriesUseMemoriesFictionImagineEventsReaderSettingSettingsNarrativeBoredNon Fiction Author:Sefi Atta
“I have to say that writing about my writing process is more daunting than writing non-fiction.” WritingProcessFictionWriting ProcessNon Fiction Author:Sefi Atta
“You can tell within a sentence if something is fiction or non-fiction. You can tell in the artifice of the language or the care of the construction the difference between art and life.” IfsArtCareLanguageDifferencesFictionSentencesConstructionNon FictionArtificeArt And Life Author:Ethan Canin
“I say at the very end of "Winter Journal" that I do dream about my father often. I think I have a tremendous compassion for him, which has grown over the years. A certain kind of pity for him also in that he was so unrealised as a human being, so dogged, and so shut-off from people in many ways. You know, I've been writing another book, and it's another non-fiction autobiographical work, kind of a compliment to "Winter Journal", and it's just finished.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayWritingYearsHumansKindBookEndsDreamCertainFatherHuman BeingsFictionCompassionWinterFinishedPityComplimentJournalNon Fiction Author:Paul Auster
“As strange as this may sound, I very seldom read fiction. Because my novels require so much research, almost everything I read is non - fiction - histories, biographies, translations of ancient texts.” MaySoundFictionNovelStrangeResearchAncientBiographiesTranslationsNon Fiction Author:Dan Brown
“The most deeply personal of my works are the non-fiction works, the autobiographical works, because there, I'm talking about myself very directly.” FictionTalkingNon Fiction Author:Paul Auster
“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
“Life is an interpretation of a series of facts, and that interpretation is really what life is about. So the division between non-fiction and fiction has a certain logic, but it's a very limited one. And by and large, it isn't helpful.” FactsLife IsCertainFictionLogicSeriesHelpfulInterpretationDivisionNon Fiction Author:Yann Martel
“I do teach fiction and non-fiction, and usually I'm interested in works that confuse genre, but I'm very new to teaching creative writing, I don't have an MFA, or a PhD, I tend to approach it just through my own practice.” WritingMy OwnFictionTeachPracticeCreativeTeachingApproachGenreCreative WritingNon FictionPhds Author:Kate Zambreno
“Read non-fiction. History, biology, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology. Get a bodyguard and do fieldwork. Find your inner fish. Don't publish too soon. Not before you have read Thomas Mann in any case. Learn by copying, sentence by sentence some of the masters. Copy Coetzee's or Sebald's sentences and see what happens to your story. Consider creative non-fiction if you want to stay in South Africa. It might be the way to go. Never neglect back and hamstring exercises, otherwise you won't be able to write your novel. One needs one's buttocks to think.” IfsThinkingWayWantNeedsWritingStoriesMightHappensAbleFictionCasesNovelCreativeMastersExerciseSouthFishesSentencesBiologyNeglectCopiesSouth AfricaPublishNon FictionCopyingBodyguardPaleontologyButtocksFieldworkHamstringsCoetzee Author:Marlene van Niekerk
“When you play a non-fiction character it is more responsibility than when you are playing a fiction character because that person lived, and you do want to pay respect to that.” WantPersonsPlayCharacterPayFictionResponsibilityNon Fiction Author:Bryan Cranston
“It's very hard to be a screenwriter. I remember getting a couple of awards. I got a PEN West award a million years ago when I did Running on Empty, and I sat in the room with all these writers. They wrote everything from novels to non-fiction to children's books to journalism - any kind of writing - and I realized that there was no one in the room who would ever read anything I'd written.” WritingYearsKindChildrenBookHardRunningRememberRoomsFictionMillionsNovelWrittenCoupleYears AgoEmptyWestI RealizedJournalismSatPensAwardsNon FictionScreenwritersChildren's Books Author:Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal
“I use non-fiction work written by Whites in my research. It's indispensable. That wasn't the problem. I said that "The Wire" was a cliché! It's like my writing a series about Jewish life and casting all of the characters as inside traders.” WritingSaidCharacterUseProblemFictionWrittenResearchSeriesIndispensableCastingWireNon FictionTradersJewish Life Author:Ishmael Reed
“In high school, in 1956, at the age of sixteen, we were not taught "creative writing." We were taught literature and grammar. So no one ever told me I couldn't write both prose and poetry, and I started out writing all the things I still write: poetry, prose fiction - which took me longer to get published - and non-fiction prose.” WritingStillsAgeSchoolLiteratureFictionCreativeTaughtHigh SchoolProseGrammarCreative WritingNon FictionSixteenProse And Poetry Author:Margaret Atwood
“When you're not doing fiction, there's a limit to how much illustrating you can do with your work. I mean, you can do fine. There are great non-fiction writers, but people aren't necessarily going to say anything that reveals them as much as a picture might. Even their surroundings, in lot of cases, the things that meant the most to me were the things I noticed in their houses. I was always looking, as much as I was listening to them. I was looking around for clues as to why I was there.” PeopleMeanMightHouseCan DoFictionCasesListeningFineLimitsSay AnythingClueSurroundingsNon FictionFiction WritersIllustrating Author:Miranda July
“Autobiographical writings, essays, interviews, various other things... All the non-fiction prose I wanted to keep, that was the idea behind this collected volume, which came out about few years ago. I didn't think of Winter Journal, for example, as an autobiography, or a memoir. What it is is a literary work, composed of autobiographical fragments, but trying to attain, I hope, the effect of music.” ThinkingWritingTryingYearsIdeasWantedBehindsFictionEffectsExampleYears AgoWinterVariousMemoirInterviewsProseVolumeJournalAutobiographyEssaysFragmentsNon FictionLiterary WorksWriting Essays Author:Paul Auster
“So much history, if you or I were to write it, could seem a fiction. These separations, these lines that tell us this is fiction or non-fiction, that this is history or this is a novel, are often useless.” IfsWritingSeemsLinesFictionNovelSeparationUselessNon Fiction Author:Jamaica Kincaid
“Often the lines that define the traditional European arrangement of fiction, non-fiction, history, etc. are not useful. These lines can distort the world we, people who look like me, live in - and by the world, I mean our personal experience of it.” PeopleWorldLooksMeanLinesFictionLike MeTraditionalEtcArrangementsNon FictionPersonal Experiences Author:Jamaica Kincaid
“I spend most of my time reading non-fiction of all sorts. Then poetry. Then fiction to blurb. Then fiction I want to read.” WantReadingFictionMy TimeNon Fiction Author:Jim Shepard
“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
“There is, in my mind, no higher compliment to pay a non-fiction book than to say it reads like a novel.” MindBookPayFictionNovelHigherComplimentNon Fiction Author:Jon Weisman
“It is simply much easier to infuse life, feeling, and higher truth into a novel than a non-fiction work, to find the license to write truth without being wedded to fact.” WritingFactsFeelingsFictionNovelHigherEasierLicenseNon Fiction Author:Jon Weisman
“The effect of reading literary non-fiction that matters most to me is when the coin drops, and this happens in the company of the great, mercuric, encyclopedic minds: Empson, Kenneth Burke, Northrop Frye.” MindMatterHappensReadingFictionCompanyEffectsCoinsNon FictionKenneth Author:Paul Fry
“I'm always looking for context in which people tell stories. In "Fight Club" it's these support groups for dying people, and then in "Choke" it's 12-step recovery groups. In one novel it's artists' colonies, in another novel it's a diary form that submariners' wives typically keep so that when their husband comes back from serving on a submarine they have an accounting of their spouse's time. So I'm always looking for, number one, a non-fiction context - because you can tell a more outrageous story if you use a non-fiction form.” PeopleIfsStoriesUseFormArtistFightingNumbersFictionStepsSupportNovelWifeGroupsDyingHusbandClubsRecoveryServingSpouseDiariesNon FictionOutrageousChokeAccountingColonySubmarinesSupport Groups12 Step Recovery12 Step Author:Chuck Palahniuk
“I like writing non-fiction - and when you pick a [non-fiction] subject, it saves you the hassle of coming up with a plot.” WritingFictionSubjectsPicksPlotNon FictionHassle Author:Richard Hell