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Reader Quotes

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Reader Quotes

“Fantasy involves that which general opinion regards as impossible; science fiction involves that which general opinion regards as possible under the right circumstances. This is in essence a judgment call, since what is possible and what is not cannot be objectively known but is, rather, a subjective belief on the part of the reader.”

BeliefFictionKnownOpinionFantasyImpossibleReaderCircumstancesJudgmentEssenceRegardScience FictionSubjective
Book:Pandemonium
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“When writers are self-conscious about themselves as writers they often keep a great distance from their characters, sounding as if they were writing encyclopedia entries instead of stories. Their hesitancy about physical and psychological intimacy can be a barrier to vital fiction. Conversely, a narration that makes readers hear the characters' heavy breathing and smell their emotional anguish diminishes distance. Readers feel so close to the characters that, for those magical moments, they become those characters.”

IfsFeelsWritingSelfMomentsCharacterStoriesFictionEmotionalReaderConsciousDistanceHeavySmellPsychologicalIntimacyBreathingBarriersAnguishDiminishSelf ConsciousEntryEncyclopediaNarrationMagical Moments
Author:Jerome Stern
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“Could there be a more hilarious sad sack than Duncan Leland, whose trials and tribulations, so wittily conveyed, had me laughing (and wincing) from the first page? Hart's Maine landscape is rich with eccentric characters, dried fish, and other surprising and original treasures. While Duncan sinks, the reader will float on a cloud nine of classy entertainment.”

FirstsCharacterLaughingRichReaderPagesOriginalsCloudsFishesEntertainmentTreasureNineTrialsLandscapeSurprisingFloatsEccentricTribulationMaineTrials And TribulationsHartDuncanCloud Nine
Author:Mameve Medwed
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“Most of what I read is for reviewing purposes or related to something I want to write about. It's slightly utilitarian. I definitely miss that sense of being a disinterested reader who's reading purely for the pleasure of imagining his way into emotional situations and vividly realized scenes in nineteenth-century France or late nineteenth-century Russia.”

WayWantWritingPurposeReadingPleasureSituationCenturyMissingEmotionalReaderSceneLateRussiaFranceRelatedNineteenth CenturyDisinterestedUtilitarian
Author:Pankaj Mishra
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“You can't have a novel without real, believable people, and once you get into either too theoretical a novel or too philosophical a novel, you get into the dangers that the French novel has discovered in the past 50 or 60 years. And you get into a sort of aridity. No, you have to have real, identifiable people to whom the reader reacts in a way as if they were real people.”

PeopleIfsWayYearsRealPastNovelDangerReaderPhilosophicalTheoreticalBelievable
Author:Julian Barnes
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“Place yourself in the background; write in a way that comes naturally; work from a suitable design; write with nouns and verbs; do not overwrite; do not overstate; avoid the use of qualifiers; do not affect a breezy style; use orthodox spelling; do not explain too much; avoid fancy words; do not take shortcuts as the cost of clarity; prefer the standard to the offbeat; make sure the reader knows who is speaking; do not use dialect; revise and rewrite.”

KnowsWayWritingUseToo MuchStyleDesignReaderCostStandardsBackgroundsClarityFancyOrthodoxSuitableVerbsShortcutsSpellingNounsDialectBreezyOffbeat
Author:E. B. White
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“The Library didn't only contain magical books, the ones which are chained to their shelves and are very dangerous. It also contained perfectly ordinary books, printed on commonplace paper in mundane ink. It would be a mistake to think that they weren't also dangerous, just because reading them didn't make fireworks go off in the sky. Reading them sometimes did the more dangeous trick of making fireworks go off in the privacy of the reader's brain.”

ThinkingBookSometimesWould BeReadingMistakeBrainSkyDangerousReaderPaperOrdinaryLibraryTricksPrivacyShelvesInkPrintedMundaneCommonplaceFireworksChained
Book:Soul Music: (Discworld Novel 16)
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“When you're writing a book that is going to be a narrative with characters and events, you're walking very close to fiction, since you're using some of the methods of fiction writing. You're lying, but some of the details may well come from your general recollection rather than from the particular scene. In the end it comes down to the readers. If they believe you, you're OK. A memoirist is really like any other con man; if he's convincing, he's home. If he isn't, it doesn't really matter whether it happened, he hasn't succeeded in making it feel convincing.”

IfsMenFeelsWritingBelieveWellsMayBookEndsMatterCharacterHomeLyingFictionHappenedEventsParticularReaderWalkingSceneMethodDetailsNarrativeConvincingWriting A BookRecollectionFiction Writing
Author:Samuel Hynes
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“There are some simple maxims which I think might be commended to writers of expository prose. First: never use a long word if a short word will do. So, if you want to make a statement with a great many qualifications, put some of the qualifications in separate sentences. Third: do not let the beginning of your sentence lead the reader to an expectation which is contradicted by the end.”

IfsThinkingWantFirstsLongEndsUseMightSimpleReaderExpectationsThirdsSentencesStatementsGreat MenProseMaximsQualificationsShort WordsLong Words
Book:The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell
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“I am a reader. I am a writer. People assume I do these things to escape. You couldn't be more right. I'm escaping a world I don't like. A world I have no control in. In this world, I am nothing. I am a color, a height, a weight, a number. But in the world of books and writing, I am amazing. I am powerful. I am different. People are better. Worlds are endless. Change is possible. Life is manageable.”

PeopleWorldWritingBookDifferentLife IsPowerfulNumbersThis WorldColorReaderWeightAssumingEndlessHeightDifferent PeoplesEscapingManageable
Author:Philip K. Dick
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“I imagine you will always be pinched for money, for time, for a place to work. But I think you will do it. And believe me, it is not a new problem. You are in good company...Your touch is the uncommon touch; you will speak only to the thoughtful reader. And more times than once you will ask yourself whether such readers really exist at all and why you should go on projecting your words into silence like an old crazy actor playing the part of himself to an empty theater.”

ThinkingShouldBelieveProblemActorsAsksSpeakSilenceCompanyImagineCrazyGoes OnReaderEmptyTheaterThoughtfulMore TimeBelieve In MeUncommonGood Company
Author:Wallace Stegner
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“I met Shannon Hale through some friends and family. I was interested in her book called Princess Academy, which is just a very sweet, Newbery-nominated fairy tale for young readers. She was like, "Oh, actually I have something else for you." She gave me Austenland. The next morning, I'm sure I called her and I was like, "Let's make this movie." It is so fun. It just felt so girly and great and a great vehicle for the weird Hess comedy.”

BookYoungNextFunFeltMorningComedySweetReaderMetsTalesFairyPrincessVehicleFairy TaleFamily And FriendsAcademyGirlyHaleVery SweetShannon
Author:Jerusha Hess
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