“These days, most of my interactions with young people are centered on the poetry or theater classes I teach, so the students I know are reading contemporary poets (they love Willie Perdomo) and scripts (No Child, by Nilaja Sun and Twilight by Anna Deavere Smith). I don't know their reading habits outside of our class, but I believe that they enjoy stories that they can relate to, learn from, be challenged by - you know, the usual good writing that every reader craves.” PeopleKnowsWritingBelieveChildrenStoriesYoungReadingI BelieveEnjoyClassTeachSunStudentsPoetReaderHabitTheaterScriptsContemporaryRelateThese DaysUsualInteractionTwilightCraveGood WritingAnnaReading Habits Author:Renee Watson
“If you understand writing as primarily engaging an imaginary reader, well, you've kind of been doing that your whole life. You walk into a room and you're engaging with imaginary strangers because you don't actually know who they are. For me, it was really empowering to say: this is a branch of entertainment and communication and engagement, as opposed to jumping over some perceived literary high bar. That was the buzzkill.” IfsKnowsWritingWellsKindWholeWalksRoomsCommunicationReaderEntertainmentStrangerWhole LifeBarsBranchesEmpoweringEngagementImaginaryEngagingJumping Author:George Saunders
“With a novel, you have the reader with you a lot longer, and you owe him a lot more. Obviously you have to have a plot - I say "obviously," although I think a lot of fiction doesn't, and nothing seems to happen. But to me, there should be something that happens, and it should be at least vaguely plausible. And because the readers are going to be with these characters for a long time, you have to get to know them and like them and want to know what happens to them.” ThinkingKnowsWantShouldLongCharacterSeemsHappensFictionNovelReaderLong TimePlotPlausible Author:Dave Barry
“I like art that trusts its audience, that's written for readers who like to work hard. I like art that knows its readers are up to the challenge of interacting with difficult material.” KnowsArtHardDifficultChallengesAudienceWrittenMaterialsHard WorkReaderInteracting Author:Joshua Mohr
“When I look at what a writer owes to the reader, it's critical to know that everything you're writing about is not made up in your head. I feel that unless you can document and be certain about what it is that you're writing about, the reader is going to lose faith in your own integrity.” KnowsFeelsWritingLooksMadeCertainLosesReaderIntegrityCriticalDocuments Author:Doris Kearns Goodwin
“This may be a little bit of a provocative thing to say, but the memoirist doesn't owe the reader anything other than a good story and the inclining of the mind in the direction of memory. Of course, the memoirist is not allowed to make things up. But the really skilled memoirist knows what to leave in and what to leave out to serve the story. In autobiography you can't do that.” KnowsMindMayLittlesStoriesCoursesBitsMemoriesReaderLittle BitAutobiographyGood StoryProvocative Author:Dani Shapiro
“I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.” KnowsWantBookMysteryReader Author:Elmore Leonard
“Novelisation doesn't imply the truth. Readers are sophisticated enough to know that.” KnowsEnoughReaderSophisticated Author:Denise Mina
“Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.” KnowsHeartEndsStoriesLightDifficultDarkMorningSunReaderRedemptionThemeTake MeOptimistHappy EndingsTunnels Author:Michael Morpurgo
“There should really not be anything gratuitous in a work of art. Sometimes what seems as if it's gratuitous may be a passage in which a character is being characterized so that the reader comes to know him or her better.” IfsKnowsShouldMayArtSometimesCharacterSeemsReaderWorks Of ArtPassages Author:Joyce Carol Oates
“One of the interesting things about YA books - I don't know about Percy Jackson, but I do know about 'Twilight' and 'Maximum Ride': There are a lot of adult readers. In fact, we released 'Maximum Ride' both as a paperback for kids and as a mass release for adults.” KnowsBookFactsKidsInterestingReaderMassAdultsReleaseTwilightMaximumInteresting ThingsMaximum Ride Author:James Patterson
“As a writer, one of the things we all learned from the movies was a kind of compression that didn't exist before people were used to watching films. For instance, if you wanted to write a flashback in a novel, you once had to really contextualize it a lot, to set it up. Now, readers know exactly what you're doing. Close-ups, too.” PeopleIfsKnowsWritingKindWantedFilmUsedNovelReaderInstanceFlashbackCompression Author:Salman Rushdie
“A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators.” KnowsBookReadingCreationReaderConventionalInnovativeBathsConspiratorsGood Reads Author:Augustine Birrell
“There are certain things in 'Twilight'... As much as I'm proud of that movie and I do like it, I feel like maybe I brought too much of myself to the character. I feel like I really know Bella now. But most readers feel like they know Bella because it's a first-person narrative.” KnowsFeelsFirstsPersonsCharacterCertainToo MuchReaderProudNarrativeTwilightFirst PersonFirst Person Narrative Author:Kristen Stewart