“Read like mad. But try to do it analytically - which can be hard, because the better and more compelling a novel is, the less conscious you will be of its devices. It's worth trying to figure those devices out, however: they might come in useful in your own work.” WritingTryingHardMightNovelFiguresConsciousMadDevicesCompelling Author:Sarah Waters
“Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is: what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problems of the modern novel is: what will a madman do with a dull world? In the fairy tales the cosmos goes mad; but the hero does not go mad. In the modern novels the hero is mad before the book begins, and suffers from the harsh steadiness and cruel sanity of the cosmos.” MenWorldMeanDoeBookSoulProblemSufferingUniverseNovelModernHeroHealthySickMadFolksTalesFantasticFairyDullCosmosRoutineSanityFairy TaleSaneRealismHarshMadmenSteadinessModern Novel Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
“You, and in fact quite a lot of your generation, have in some way been exiled from that particular sanctuary. It's become almost impossible for someone to "go mad" in the classical sense. At one time people conveniently "went mad" and were never heard from again. Like a character in a romantic novel. But now you are too hip to yourself on a psychological level. You all are too intimate with too many of the symptoms of insanity to be caught completely off your guard.” PeopleWayCharacterFactsLevelsNovelImpossibleGenerationsHeardParticularMadCaughtPsychologicalHipsInsanityIntimateOne TimeSymptomsSanctuary Author:Ken Kesey
“I'm writinng my first full-length novel, which is based on a novella I wrote called "The Mad Scientist's Daughter." I'm having a wonderful time with it, but of course it's presenting challenges as well. Stories always do, no matter what they are.” FirstsWellsMatterStoriesCoursesChallengesNovelWonderfulDaughterScientistNo Matter WhatMadLengthPresentingWonderful TimesMad Scientist Author:Theodora Goss