“You asked if I thought my fiction had changed anything in the culture and the answer is no. Sure, there's been some scandal, but people are scandalized all the time; it's a way of life for them. It doesn't mean a thing. If you ask if I want my fiction to change anything in the culture, the answer is still no. What I want is to possess my readers while they are reading my book if I can, to possess them in ways that other writers don't. Then let them return, just as they were, to a world where everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt, and control them.” PeopleIfsWorldWayWantMeanStillsI CanBookCultureReadingAsksAnswersFictionChangedReturnReaderScandal Book:Conversations with Philip Roth Source: Conversations with Philip Roth
“Paranormal fiction offers authors - and readers - the chance to answer the question, what if? All the different ways that question can be answered make for extremely entertaining reading.” IfsWayDifferentReadingChanceAnswersFictionReaderOffersDifferent WaysParanormalWhat IfEntertaining Author:Jeaniene Frost
“The novel...creates a bemusing effect. The short story, on the other hand wakes the reader up. Not only that, it answers the primitive craving for art, the wit, paradox and beauty of shape, the longing to see a dramatic pattern and significance in our experience.” ArtStoriesHandsAnswersNovelEffectsReaderShapesLongingPatternsWitDramaticSignificanceParadoxShort StoryPrimitiveCraving Author:V. S. Pritchett
“I believe that a work of art, like metaphors in language, can ask the most serious, difficult questions in a way which really makes the readers answer for themselves; that the work of art far more than an essay or a tract involves the reader, challenges him directly and brings him into the argument.” WayBelieveArtAsksLanguageI BelieveDifficultChallengesAnswersSeriousReaderArgumentMetaphorWorks Of ArtEssaysDifficult Questions Author:George Steiner
“I am of the generation of writers who can get instant feedback from readers within hours of publication. The fan forum is extraordinary - readers from all over the world coming together to discuss, argue and debate scenes and characters from a novel. They add a layer to the story that I cannot write and yes, I will participate in that conversation and answer questions. After all, they are the people I'm writing for and their enthusiasm and questions really pushes me to raise the bar.” PeopleWorldWritingCharacterStoriesTogetherHoursAnswersNovelGenerationsFansReaderSceneConversationRaisesAddExtraordinaryArguingDebateBarsEnthusiasmInstantLayersFeedbackPublicationForumsComing TogetherRaising The Bar Author:Michael Scott
“For me, the favourite chapters have always been the last chapters in the books. I knew exactly how each book would end - and how the first chapter of the following book would begin. I knew I wanted to leave the readers with answers - and a bunch of new questions!” FirstsBookEndsWantedLastsAnswersReaderFollowingBunchFavouriteChapters Author:Michael Scott
“There are two tests that we [writers] have for all of our writing: So What? and Who Cares? There is an answer to both. The answer to Who Cares is that a reader cares, if the writing is good. The answer to So What is that these ideas give us completely new understanding, change our sense of who we [people] are and why we're here [on this planet].” PeopleIfsGivingWritingTwoIdeasCareUnderstandingAnswersPlanetsReaderTestsWho Cares Author:Richard Bach
“You have to expose part of yourself to create a character deep enough for readers to care about. You try not to because it's hard and at times shameful, but then when you read those pages over and you see they have no life to them so you throw them away and force yourself to be more honest. So I suppose the answer is I see myself in all my characters, in their best moments and in their worst.” TryingHardEnoughMomentsCharacterCareForceAnswersWorstHonestReaderPagesShamefulBest Moments Author:Adam Haslett
“We all become different readers in how we respond to books, why we need them, what we take from them. We become different in the questions that arise as we read, in the answers that we find, in the degree of satisfaction or unease we feel with those answers...In the hands of a different reader, the same story can be a different story.” NeedsFeelsBookDifferentStoriesHandsAnswersReaderDegreesSatisfactionArise Author:Amy Tan
“And though it is most certain, that two lutes being both strung and turned to an equal pitch, and then one played upon, the other will warble a faint audible harmony in answer to the same tune: yet many will not believe there is any such thing as sympathy of souls, and I am well pleased that every reader do enjoy his own opinion.” BelieveWellsTwoSoulCertainEnjoyAnswersOpinionReaderEqualHarmonyTunes Author:Izaak Walton
“As a reader I gravitate toward work that rests in the gray area, that doesn't come with easy answers.” EasyAnswersReaderAreasGrayGray AreaEasy Answers Author:Laurie Foos
“Maybe there's a sense that technology isn't necessarily the answer to a lot of our problems. Fantasy offers readers a less radically alienated world - a world where desires and feelings that normally are trapped inside your mind are made real in the form of magic.” WorldMindMadeRealFeelingsProblemFormDesireAnswersTechnologyFantasyMagicReaderOffersTrapped Author:Lev Grossman
“Once the reader firmly grasps the truth of human exceptionalism under our Creator God, then the answers to confusing cultural issues begin to be clear.” HumansAnswersIssuesClearReaderCreatorConfusingExceptionalismCreator GodCultural Issues Author:Joni Eareckson Tada
“I do think they [French] view my writing itself as exotic - though that's probably not the best term for it - to a small extent, mainly because I say things that most French writers would probably hesitate to say for fear of offending someone or upsetting public sensibilities. I don't think that answers the question, but I'm not much good at figuring readers out or I would probably be writing bestsellers.” ThinkingWritingTermAnswersViewsReaderUpsetSensibilityExoticOffending Author:Donald Ray Pollock
“It's an important moment as a reader, I think, when you can forget the question of whether you need to know what happened. Some people really want hard explanations. I'm the other way. I like mysteries. I don't want to frustrate people. I don't want people to feel like they got no answers, but I want to approach the mystery and sit with it.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayWantNeedsFeelsImportantHardMomentsAnswersForgetHappenedMysteryReaderApproachExplanationImportant Moments Author:John Darnielle
“I hear from readers a good deal, and I try to answer every letter. I think, because of my commitment to issues of conservation and good agriculture and peaceableness, they find something hopeful in my work.” ThinkingTryingAnswersDealsIssuesReaderCommitmentLettersHopefulAgricultureConservation Author:Wendell Berry
“I was one of the first authors to have an active website. I'm totally obsessed with technology. I'm always looking for ways to connect with my readers. I answer all my fan mail.” WayFirstsAnswersTechnologyFansReaderActiveObsessedMailWebsiteFan Mail Author:Jodi Picoult