“I had experiences along the way that helped me to realize that letting go was the way that worked for me to find something that I, personally, as a reader, love to read.” WayRealizingReaderLetting GoLove To Read Author:Richard Bach
“That's a way to increase the realism to the reader, if you want to get technical - you leave it [character] vague and you let the reader fill in the blanks with their imagination.” IfsWayWantCharacterImaginationReaderIncreaseRealismVague Author:Nicholas Sparks
“It's good for a writer to come from journalism because it gives you the tools. A journalist knows that he or she can lose the reader in six lines, so try to keep the attention of the reader. Also, you learn to research, and to conduct an interview - to extract from the person whatever you need from that person.” KnowsNeedsGivingTryingPersonsLosesLinesAttentionReaderSixResearchToolsJournalismJournalistInterviews Author:Isabel Allende
“And the truth is that if a writer is successful, you gain readers. It benefits all the writers. It's important for all the writers that as many of us as possible be successful.” IfsImportantSuccessfulReaderTruth IsBenefitsGainsBeing Successful Author:Isabel Allende
“I do think there's a relationship between a book and a reader that's more intimate, in many ways, than the relationship between an audience member and a play - just by the nature of it being an object that you can have in bed with you and that you can keep and page through.” ThinkingWayBookPlayAudienceObjectsReaderBedMembersPagesIntimate Author:Sarah Ruhl
“We're talking really huge global-scale change, and I did not feel that I had the prescription for that kind of action, so I'm going to leave it to the reader.” FeelsKindActionTalkingHugeReaderScalesPrescriptions Author:Elizabeth Kolbert
“One of the ways in which writers most show their inventiveness is in the things they tell us about how they write. Generally speaking, I don't like to make a plan before I've written a story. I find it kills the story - deadens it, makes it uninteresting. Unless I'm surprised by something in a story, the reader's not going to be surprised either.” WayWritingStoriesShowsPlansWrittenReaderInventiveness Author:Philip Pullman
“Every writer can tell you that a book is only truly alive when it finds passionate readers who bring it alive in their imaginations.” BookImaginationAliveReaderPassionate Author:Julia Alvarez
“It's always gratifying to hear from a passionate reader, and as a longtime educator, I'm especially pleased and heartened when that reader is a young student who is inspired to write me and let me know that my book has helped him or her find her way.” KnowsWayWritingBookYoungStudentsReaderLet MeInspiredPassionateEducatorYoung Students Author:Julia Alvarez
“I consider my greatest strength my complete and utter faith in a loving God. Strong family values are also important and I do not hesitate to write them into my books. My reader mail tells me this is something that readers especially like about my books.” WritingImportantBookValuesStrongReaderMailLoving GodFamily ValuesStrong Family Author:Debbie Macomber
“I'm an optimist and my heroines seem to be that way, too. It's too much work to be cynical and distrusting. That doesn't mean I create perfect stories and perfect people, however. What this means is that my stories are resolved in a manner that leaves the reader with a feeling of hope and happy expectation . . . and wanting to reach for another one of my books.” PeopleWayMeanBookStoriesFeelingsSeemsPerfectToo MuchReaderExpectationsCynicalOptimistHeroinesToo Much Work Author:Debbie Macomber
“I'm a reader of milblogs, but as with all blogs, the wheat/chaff ratio makes it a poor investment of time.” PoorReaderInvestmentBlogsWheatRatios Author:Garry Trudeau
“True literature is more than just a story someone has told. It must provide the reader with the essence of the world on a moral, philosophical and emotional level.” WorldStoriesLiteratureLevelsMoralEmotionalReaderEssencePhilosophical Author:Orhan Pamuk
“It is not my intention to explain Turkey, its culture and its problems. My literature has a universal concern: I want to bring people and their emotions closer to my readers, not explain Turkish politics.” PeopleWantProblemCultureLiteratureEmotionReaderConcernUniversalIntentionTurkeysTurkish Author:Orhan Pamuk
“I like the idea of a book being a democratic space which readers enter, carrying their own thoughts, and participate in a conversation, or experience of grace.” BookIdeasSpaceGraceReaderConversationDemocratic Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“Whatever solidarity I have established with other writers individually, it is usually organized around books. We connected as readers, as it were, not writers.” BookReaderConnectedOrganizedSolidarity Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“To me, the solidarity of readers is far more important than the solidarity of writers, particularly since readers in fact find ways to connect over a book or books, whatever they may be.” WayMayImportantBookFactsReaderSolidarity Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“It was always clear to me that I would have to earn my readers, some I would have to find, some to create.” ClearReader Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“No reader owes me anything - I am owed nothing for my noble efforts, because my writing was always unconditional, always coming out of inner necessity.” WritingEffortReaderNobleComing OutUnconditional Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I hate traveling and being away from my family. But I like meeting my readers, as what I write is actualized in them. Those encounters are exhilarating to me.” WritingHateReaderMy FamilyI HateMeetingsEncountersExhilarating Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“Teen readers can see aspects of themselves in the teen authors, which in a way, validates their experiences.” WayReaderAspect Author:Deborah Reber
“Words also are filters. They have to be translated. Even in the original language, there is interpretation and some ambiguity. If there's a cultural difference between the writer and the reader, that might come out in words. But with pictures, there's more efficiency.” IfsMightLanguageDifferencesReaderOriginalsInterpretationEfficiencyAmbiguityFiltersCultural Differences Author:Marjane Satrapi
“I do think of my reader, or listener, really, more often, if I give a lecture, for example, and I know that I'm talking to these people; I enjoy sort of preening them a bit. But it's a matter of decorum, basically.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsGivingMatterBitsEnjoyTalkingExampleReaderListenersLecturesDecorum Author:William H. Gass
“As an author, one of the most important things I think you can do once you've written a novel is step back. When the book is out, it belongs to the readers and you can't stand there breathing over their shoulders.” ThinkingImportantBookCan DoStepsNovelWrittenReaderImportant ThingsShouldersBreathingBack When Author:Madeline Miller
“I really believe that readers are smart and sophisticated enough to realize that the author is not the narrator of his novels.” BelieveEnoughRealizingNovelReaderSmartSophisticatedNarrators Author:Bret Easton Ellis
“A novel, for me, relies on my imagination to inspire your (the reader's) imagination. It is not all there for you. My novels or my stories come to me visually. I use words to translate the novel I see inside my head into words that I hope will create a movie inside your head.” StoriesUseImaginationNovelInspireReaderRelyTranslateMy Imagination Author:Jay Neugeboren
“As a writer I am proud that if you took my last four books, and they didn't have my name on them, I don't think readers would know they were by the same author.” IfsThinkingKnowsBookLastsNamesFourReaderProud Author:Jay Neugeboren
“Southern writing is regional: it includes dialect, settings, and cultural traditions from that region. However the themes and story conflicts are universal. My challenge is to write regional fiction without falling into the trap of nostalgia. There are important issues facing the south that I believe should be raised in the stories to make them contemporary, believable, and relevant to today's readers.” ShouldWritingBelieveImportantStoriesTodayFallI BelieveChallengesFictionIssuesReaderConflictTraditionUniversalSouthRaisedNostalgiaSettingContemporarySettingsThemeRegionsSouthernRelevantTrapsBelievableDialectImportant Issues Author:Mary Alice Monroe
“Perhaps because technology so dominates our existence, more and more it seems that the young reader is captivated by fantasy.” SeemsYoungExistenceTechnologyFantasyReaderCaptivated Author:Anita Nair
“I do think poetry needs to invite the reader, especially when there are so many other distractions while reading.” ThinkingNeedsReadingReaderDistractionInvites Author:David Starkey
“Bloggers intent on self-expression which renders no service to readers don't get read.” SelfExpressionReaderSelf ExpressionBloggers Author:Lee Gutkind
“I strive to find materials that will engage students, expand their capacities as critical readers and thinkers, and feel immediately relevant to their daily lives and future work in court and social service systems.” FeelsSocialStudentsMaterialsReaderCapacityCourtStriveCriticalDaily LifeThinkerRelevantSocial ServiceFuture Work Author:Dean Spade
“I am often talking about the ideas collected in Normal Life in contexts that are not academic, or that are full of people who are not primarily engaging as theorists or theory-readers. Being able to make ideas visual, especially critical ideas about movements that can be difficult to hear because of attachments we have to certain national narratives, or because of ways that we see ourselves, is especially useful.” PeopleWayIdeasAbleCertainDifficultTalkingMovementTheoryReaderNormalCriticalNarrativeVisualsAttachmentAcademicEngagingNormal LifeTheorists Author:Dean Spade
“I have deliberated carefully about which of the terms that are unfamiliar to many of my readers I wanted to take time to introduce and explain, and which terms I would not introduce, despite the fact that I find them useful in my other work, in teaching, or in other activist contexts.” FactsWantedTermTeachingReaderDespiteActivistIntroducingTake TimeUnfamiliar Author:Dean Spade
“One particular debate that I have seen play out again and again is whether trans people who have more traditional gender expressions or who "pass" more should be the ones who are represented. A recent advocacy guide focused on advocating around trans health care access produced by the largest trans advocacy organization in the US instructs readers that advocacy will be more successful if the message is delivered by people who pass as non-trans men and women.” PeopleIfsMenShouldPlayCareSuccessfulParticularExpressionReaderMessagesMen And WomenOrganizationGenderFocusedGuidesAccessDebateTraditionalHealth CareAgain And AgainTransAdvocatingAdvocacy Author:Dean Spade
“I hope any poem I've ever written could stand on its own and not need to be a part of biography, critical theory or cultural studies. I don't want to give a poetry reading and have to provide the story behind the poem in order for it to make sense to an audience. I certainly don't want the poem to require a critical intermediary - a "spokescritic." I want my poems to be independently meaningful moments of power for a good reader. And that's the expectation I initially bring to other poets' writing.” WantNeedsGivingWritingMomentsStoriesOrderReadingBehindsAudienceStudyWrittenPoetTheoryReaderExpectationsCriticalMeaningfulMake SenseBiographiesPoetry ReadingCritical TheoryMeaningful Moments Author:Albert Goldbarth
“A lot of times it's the child that sees something and not the grownup. I love that because, when readers get older, they start looking for the most important ideas in the story. They don't look at things in the same way anymore. Children haven't really learned to do that yet. They take all their great, intellectual skills, look at the full page, and appreciate all of the different things.” WayLooksChildrenImportantIdeasDifferentStoriesHavensReaderSkillsPagesIntellectualAppreciateDifferent ThingsGrownups Author:Jan Brett
“A book is something that young readers can experience on their own time. They decide when to turn the page. They'll put their arm right on the page so you can't turn it because they're not ready to go to the next page yet. They just want to look at it again, or they want to read the book over and over because they really enjoy setting the pace themselves.” WantLooksBookYoungTurnsNextEnjoyReadyArmsReaderPagesSettingSettingsPaceNot Ready Author:Jan Brett
“A children's book is the perfect place where young readers can understand the world because they can take a deep breath and look at it and imagine and contemplate while they're looking at.” WorldLooksChildrenBookYoungPerfectImagineReaderBreathsContemplatingDeep BreathChildren's BooksTake A Deep Breath Author:Jan Brett
“If poems very different from my own bring pleasure to a group of readers, who am I to say that the poems should have been written differently?” IfsShouldHas BeensDifferentMy OwnPleasureWrittenGroupsReaderShould HaveShould Have Been Author:James Arthur
“I've always loved J.R.R. Tolkein and recently, Christine Feehan and J.K.Rowling. There are many as I'm an avid reader, but those three come to the fore.” ThreeReaderAvidChristine Author:Franny Armstrong
“My mother was an English teacher before she became a full-time mom, and a huge proponent of reading, so she made sure I was an early and vigorous reader.” MadeMotherReadingTeacherHugeMomReaderVigorousEnglish TeacherFull Time Mom Author:Matt Wagner
“What the readers want is a good story, and what the writers always want to luck into, it's a good story.” WantStoriesReaderLuckGood Story Author:Stephen Graham Jones
“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
“You don't need attention to write. All you need is passion for your work and an overwhelming desire to tell a story you genuinely care about. Readers can sense your sincerity and it separates you from pretenders.” NeedsWritingStoriesCareDesirePassionAttentionReaderOverwhelmingSincerityPretenderOverwhelming Desire Author:Sefi Atta
“I always write too long in the beginning, then it is a matter of going through it over and over again on subsequent drafts, looking for anything that slows down the narrative. It can be hard, cutting out parts I love, but I try to make the book as tight as possible so that the reader doesn't get bored.” WritingTryingLongBookMatterHardCuttingReaderNarrativeBoredSlow Down Author:Chevy Stevens
“I don't remember being a keen reader, but apparently I was. My aunt told me that whenever I was teased for reading, I would say, "To each his own."” RememberReadingReaderAunt Author:Sefi Atta
“I am not a psychological novelist, and I try very hard not to allow the reader to see the plight or circumstances of the characters as individual psychological plights. That's my preference; still, a lot of people do read my novels as psychological studies, and they're right to read them that way too, if that's what they mean to them.” PeopleIfsWayTryingMeanStillsHardCharacterIndividualNovelStudyReaderCircumstancesPsychologicalNovelistsPreferencePlight Author:Alix Kates Shulman
“To be honest, I want readers to be wrung out. As a novelist, I don't have a political agenda or specific philosophy; I'm trying to create a gut-wrenching, intimate, memorable experience.” WantTryingPhilosophyPoliticalHonestReaderBeing HonestNovelistsIntimateMemorableGutsAgendasPolitical AgendasMemorable Experiences Author:Jillian Medoff