Home / Topics / Reader Quotes

Reader Quotes

Browse 3935 quotes about Reader.

Reader Quotes

“But the real life of a writer resides in showing up at the keyboard every day, with the necessary patience and mercy, and making the best decisions you can on behalf of your people. It’s a slow process. It often feels hopeless, more like an affliction than an art form. Most of us will have to find our readers one by one, in other words, and against considerable resistance. If anything qualifies us as heroic, it’s that private perpetual struggle. Put down the magazine, soldier. Forget about the other guy. Remember who you are.”

“I can tell you that as a writer and as a reader, I regard character as king. Or queen. No matter how riveting the action or interesting the plot twists, if I don't feel like I'm meeting someone who feels real, I'm not going to be compelled to read further.”

Ifs Feels I Can Real Matter Character Action Interesting Reader Kings Regard Meetings Queens Plot Compelled Twists Meeting Someone Plot Twists

Author:Maggie Stiefvater

“Dialogue is the place that books are most alive and forge the most direct connection with readers. It is also where we as writers discover our characters and allow them to become real.”

Book Real Character Alive Reader Direct Connections Dialogue

Author:Laini Taylor

“...But I don't think I'm the only person who is tired of books and movies full of paper-doll characters you don't care about, who have no self-respect and no respect for anybody or any institution....And I don't want to sound preachy or Victorian, but I'm tired of amorality in fiction and in real life. Immorality is a fascinating human dilemma that creates suspense for the readers and tension for the characters, but where is the tension in an amoral situation? When people have no personal code, nothing is threatening and nothing is meaningful.”

“Nothing is more fortifying than learning that you have a real reader, a reader who truly responds both accurately and actively. It gives you courage, and you feel, I can crawl out on the branch a little further. It’s going to hold.”

Giving Feels Littles I Can Real Reader Branches

Author:Deborah Eisenberg

“The only real reason for self-referencing is the fun factor. It's fun for the writer, getting little peeks at what old characters might be up to. And it's fun for readers to spot a familiar face, or pick up on a made-up book title or something from an earlier story. I don't know that it does -- or even should -- contribute to the story in hand being any better than it would have been without it.”

Knows Should Littles Doe Has Beens Made Book Real Self Reason Character Stories Hands Might Faces Fun Reader Picks Familiar Factors Spots Titles Referencing Familiar Faces Book Titles

Author:Charles de Lint

“It is a fallacy to think that carping is the strongest form of criticism: the important work begins after the artist's mistakes have been pointed out, and the reviewer can't put it off indefinitely with sneers, although some neophytes might be tempted to try: "When in doubt, stick out your tongue" is a safe rule that never cost one any readers. But there's nothing strong about it, and it has nothing to do with the real business of criticism, which is to do justice to the best work of one's time, so that nothing gets lost.”

“Sometimes one's very angry and preaches, but I know that to clinch a point is to close it. To leave the reader free to decide what your work means, that's the real art; it makes the work inexhaustible.”

Knows Mean Art Real Sometimes Reader Angry

Author:Ursula K. Le Guin

“There are very real differences between science fiction and realistic fiction, between horror and fantasy, between romance and mystery. Differences in writing them, in reading them, in criticizing them. Vive les différences! They're what gives each genre its singular flavor and savor, its particular interest for the reader - and the writer.”

Giving Writing Real Romance Reading Interest Differences Fiction Fantasy Mystery Particular Reader Horror Science Fiction Genre Criticize Realistic Flavor Realistic Fiction

Author:Ursula K. Le Guin

“When you're conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader.”

Writing Real Light Ability Reader Conscious Simplicity Insight Caring

Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

“Guerrilla ontology The basic technique of all my books . Ontology is the study of being; the guerrilla approach is to so mix the elements of each book that the reader must decide on each page 'How much of this is real and how much is a put-on?”

Book Real Study Reader Elements Approach Pages Technique Ontology Guerrillas

Book:The Illuminati Papers

Source: The Illuminati Papers

“As readers, we want not only a strong story, but also characters we can relate to, characters that feel real. We have to find something of ourselves in them. Each character, even those only there to serve the mechanics of the plot, should have a number of layers. The entire world you are stepping into as a reader must feel real. It must have resonance, you must be able to touch the light; smell the smells.”

World Want Feels Should Real Character Stories Light Able Strong Numbers Reader Should Have Smell Relate Plot Layers Mechanic Resonance

Author:Carlos Ruiz Zafon

“I think readers appreciate those of us who stay in the trenches and fight the good fight even when times get tough. I know that I, personally, lost respect for writers who, when there was a downturn in the market, started shouting from the rooftops that they wrote thrillers and suspense novels rather than horror. As far as I'm concerned, those wussboys should sever all ties with the horror community if that's the way they feel and get out of the way so real horror writers can do their work.”

“Talking Taboo is a groundbreaking book. This chorus of bold female voices is presenting the church with an opportunity to engage real but all too frequently avoided or unseen issues impacting countless Christian women today. Their candid essays cover a wide spectrum of perspectives. Readers will resonate with some and be shocked by others. Talking Taboo took courage to write. Reading taboo takes courage too. So buckle up and brace yourself for an eye-opening but vitally important read!”

“Learn to be good readers, which is perhaps a more difficult thing than you imagine. Learn to be discriminative in your reading; to read faithfully, and with your best attention, all kinds of things which you have a real interest in,--a real, not an imaginary,--and which you find to be really fit for what you are engaged in.”

Kind Real Reading Difficult Interest Attention Imagine Reader Fit Be Good All Kinds Engaged Being Real Imaginary Difficult Things

Book:The Works of Thomas Carlyle

Source: The Works of Thomas Carlyle

“Are my characters copies of people in real life? ... Don't ever believe the stories about authors putting people into novels. That idea is a kind of joke on both authors and readers. All the readers believe that authors do it. All the authors know that it can't be done.”

People Knows Believe Kind Ideas Real Done Character Stories Novel Reader Jokes Real Life Copies

Book:Letters of Ayn Rand

Source: Letters of Ayn Rand

“Never far from a dining table, the characters in Heather A. Slomski's limpid and elegant debut collection are not given to melodramatics. Civility reigns, voices are not raised, much goes unsaid. But just beneath the sophisticated composure are longing, loss, heartbreak. And how intensely familiar is the table itself, which made this reader suddenly understand how much of our real life takes place there. Heather A. Slomski is truly a fresh voice on the scene, and The Lovers Set Down Their Spoons is that rare thing, a new book as innovative in its design as it is compulsively readable.”

“I believe that authors don't have a responsibility to include "messages" in their work, but they do have a responsibility to write a world that seems true and real, never more than when expecting readers to believe in magic and angels and fairies.”

World Writing Believe Real Seems I Believe Responsibility Magic Reader Messages Angel Fairy Expecting

Author:Cassandra Clare

“Prolonged travel in the alternate world of books can also make a reader more prone to fantasy thinking and estranged from his or her “real” life.”

Thinking World Book Real Fantasy Reader Real Life

Book:Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books

Source: Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books

“But, in the end, we editors just pass through. We all know that you, the readers, are the real carriers of the flame.”

Knows Real Ends Reader Flames Editors Carrier

Author:Alan Rusbridger

“Imagine! It is the real power of a book--not what is on the page, but what happens when a reader takes the pages in, makes it part of himself. That is the definition of literature.”

Book Real Happens Literature Imagine Reader Pages Definitions Real Power

Book:The Last Bookaneer: A Novel

Source: The Last Bookaneer: A Novel

“My readers often say to me, 'If we lived next door to each other, we'd be best friends.' That is precisely what I wanted to say to smart, funny, self-effacing Ellen McCarthy after I finished reading The Real Thing. I loved every lesson laid out in a book that wouldn't dare to call itself a field guide to marriage but amounts to as much on every page. This is a deeply useful little book.”

Ifs Littles Book Real Self Wanted Reading Next Doors Fields Reader Amount Lessons Pages Smart Dare Finished Guides Real Things

Author:Kelly Corrigan

“Character development is what I value most as a reader of fiction. If an author can manage to create the sort of characters who feel fully real, who I find myself worrying about while Im walking through the grocery store aisles a week later, that to me is as close to perfection as it gets.”

Ifs Feels Real Character Values Fiction Worry Week Development Reader Walking Perfection Stores Manage Groceries Character Development Aisle Grocery Stores

Author:J. Courtney Sullivan

“Real writers-that is, capital W Writers-rarely make much money. Their biggest reward is the occasional reader's response.... Commentators-in-print voicing big fat opinions-you might call us small w writers-get considerably more feedback than Writers. The letters I personally find most flattering are not the very rare ones that speak well of my editorials, but the occasional reader who wants to know who writes them. I always happily assume the letter-writers is implying that the editorials are so good that I couldn't have written them myself.”

Knows Want Writing Wells Real Bigs Might Speak Opinion Written Reader Letters Assuming Response Rewards Fats Print Feedback Occasional Commentators Flattering Editorials Implying

Author:Malcolm Forbes

“Skill sheets, workbooks, basal reader, flash cards are not enough. To convey meaning you need someone sharing the meaning and flavor of real stories with the student.”

Needs Book Real Enough Stories Students Reader Skills Cards Flash Sheets Flavor Real Story

Author:Jim Trelease

“Most readers of historical fiction are content to just get caught up in a good story, and that is what I want to do as an author. I am not concerned with people knowing exactly what I made up and what is real.”

People Want Made Real Stories Fiction Knowing Reader Concerned Historical Caught Historical Fiction Caught Up Good Story

Author:Melanie Benjamin

“[Comics is] one of the last havens for honesty when it comes to a reader's genuine response to art. Most of us, if we don't find any sympathy or pleasure, for example, in a modern painting, are likely to blame our own ignorance of the history and theory of painting. But nobody pretends to like a bad comic strip. Such harshness is necessary for any real truth to surface, I think, and for art to really contribute anything to life. Though I don't know. I could be wrong.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Art Real Lasts Pleasure Modern Havens Honesty Example Ignorance Painting Theory Reader Blame Response Surface Genuine Comic Comic Strips Harshness Real Truth

Author:Chris Ware

“A reader can never tell if it's a real thimble or an imaginary thimble, because by the time you're reading it, they're the same. It's a thimble. It's in the book.”

Ifs Book Real Reading Reader Imaginary

Author:Margaret Atwood

“A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.”

Book Real Reading Reader Reading Books Writing A Book Book Reading Book Readers Real Books

Author:W. H. Auden

“I also like to use a sensational headline. Many people read blogs in aggregators, which generally show only the headline. So you have to give people a reason to click through. Blogs need to be real and personal. Reading it should be like hanging out with you. I play music for my readers. I show them videos I like. I tell them what I did over the weekend. And I tell them what is happening in the technology, Internet, and VC markets.”

People Needs Giving Should Real Reason Play Use Shows Success Reading Business Technology Reader Internet Happenings Video Hanging Out Weekend Being Real Blogs Headlines Clicks Sensational

Author:Fred Wilson

“I think all tragedies are best told with some humor. You have to relieve the darkness to let the reader get through it. Also, that life has happiness and sadness mixed together. If you told a story that was all darkness, it wouldn't be real.”

Ifs Thinking Real Stories Together Darkness Sadness Reader Tragedy Being Real Happiness And Sadness

Author:Alan Lightman

“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.”

People Ifs Way Years Real Past Novel Danger Reader Philosophical Theoretical Believable

Author:Julian Barnes

“Just as the historian can teach no real history until he has cured his readers of the romantic delusion that the greatness of a queen consists in her being a pretty woman and having her head cut off, so the playwright of the first order can do nothing with his audience until he has cured them of looking at the stage through the keyhole, and sniffing round the theatre as prurient people sniff round the divorce court.”

Source: George Bernard Shaw: Collected Articles, Lectures, Essays and Letters: Thoughts and Studies from the Renowned Dramaturge and Author of Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Pygmalion, Arms and The Man, Saint Joan, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion

“The problem with kitsch is that it is all too profound, manipulating deep libidinal and ideological forces, while true art knows how to remain at the surface, how to subtract it's subject from it's deepest context of historical reality. The same goes for contemporary art, where we often encounter brutal attempts to return to the Real, to remind the spectator or reader that he is perceiving a fiction, to awaken him from a sweet dream.”

“...in the theatre the stage keeps the audience aware of the fictional nature of the action. The reader poring over a magazine, on the other hand, identifies what he sees in the photographs as real.”

Real Hands Action Audience Stage Reader Photograph Theatre Magazines

Book:Photography & Society

Source: Photography & Society

“Speaking as an outsider is the most authentic voice for a poet. Poets who have one hundred thousand or one million readers [as many South Korean poets do] might not be a real, authentic poet.”

Real Might Voice Millions Poet Reader Thousand Hundred South Outsiders Korean

Author:Kim Hyesoon

“In my own life as a reader I experience real moments of alienation when a writer feels too perfect, or like even the flaws they are admitting are somehow noble, or dysfunctional in an overly edgy, aesthetically pleasing way.”

Way Feels Real Moments My Own Perfect Reader Noble Flaws Alienation My Own Life Admitting Edgy

Author:Leslie Jamison

“All that matters to me as a reader are characters. I want characters to be real, authentic, and rounded. I will be digging into characters for at least a month. Who they are. What they are like. Outside of the story.”

Want Real Matter Character Stories Months Reader Being Real Digging

Author:Matt de la Pena

“I allude to Back to the Future in the 1985 story to let folks know it was an inspiration and because it literally was the most time-travelly bit of pop culture we had in the mid 80's. I can talk about their tools for considering change. First, the book is metafictive in a traditional sense where I'm showing and telling the reader that the act of writing and reading is a reflexive way to push boundaries of real and literal time travel. Writers and readers are time travellers. The question is what we do with that time we traveled when we leave a book, leave a page.”

“To a certain extent that happens with all kinds of successful writers and artists and celebrities, but there is also something about the form of memoir that creates an eerie reader space of intimacy that is only "real" in the space of the text.”

Kind Real Happens Form Artist Certain Space Successful Reader Memoir All Kinds Intimacy Eerie

Author:Lidia Yuknavitch

“I had to do things to myself on the page that had been done to me in real life. I had to try and drown myself in the bath. You have to do that. And the impulse is to rescue yourself and to spare the reader, but I can't rescue myself. And why should I spare the reader when nobody spared me? It's telling people what happened.”

People Should Trying I Can Real Done Happened Reader Pages Real Life Impulse Rescue Should I Spares Baths

Author:Damian Barr

“I love the box that such a decision puts you in, and I love the interest the reader has in seeing how you negotiate that box: that seemingly hugely narrowed set of options. I also like the way in which it reminds us that we connect to the real world. That our relationship to the world matters.”

World Way Real Matter Interest Decision Seeing Reader Boxes Real World Our Relationship

Author:Jim Shepard

“I chose to write about food: food is inherently political, but it's also an essential part of people's real lives. It's where the public and private spheres connect. I wanted to show readers that the larger politics of war and economics and U.S. foreign policy are inextricably bound to the supposedly trivial details of our everyday lives.”

People Writing War Real Shows Wanted Political Policy Reader Essentials Economics Everyday Bounds Details Real Life Spheres Foreign Policy Everyday Life

Author:Annia Ciezadlo

“Reading a poem is a real thing, a worthy thing. So to be there right with the reader at that moment is part of the effect of a title like "Poem for" something or other. Matt Rohrer does this a lot in his titles, and I think I might have gotten some of the idea to do this, or at least been reminded of how it can work, from his recent amazing books.”

Thinking Doe Book Ideas Real Moments Might Reading Effects Reader Worthy Titles That Moment Real Things Amazing Book Worthy Things

Author:Matthew Zapruder

“Fiction is more dangerous than nonfiction because it can seduce better. I think we all know this, know that deeper truths can be approached in fiction than in fact. There are risks for the reader, because after reading certain books you find you have changed irreversibly. There are risks for writers: in China, now, and Ethiopia and other countries right now, writers face real persecution.”

“Since I hold no judgments against my characters, no matter how heinous they might seem, I present them as real people with their own moral centers. We might feel those moral centers are mis-calibrated, but they are there and are the rudders that propel them. This makes reading my work a visceral roller coaster, 'cause the reader must embark on the journey of the protagonist equipped only with his or her own moral center.”

People Feels Real Matter Character Seems Might Reading Causes Moral Journey Reader Judgment Protagonists Roller Coaster Coasters Visceral Rudders

Author:Chris Abani

“I take pleasure as a reader in books that tease with a kind of urgency of the real, even if it's only a manufactured effect.”

Ifs Kind Book Real Pleasure Effects Reader Urgency Tease

Author:Garth Greenwell

“Publishing companies and a great many authors have missed the opportunity to capitalize on the very real relationships they create with their readers.”

Real Opportunity Company Reader Great Men Publishing Real Relationship

Author:Vantile Whitfield

“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.”

World Mind Made Real Feelings Problem Form Desire Answers Technology Fantasy Magic Reader Offers Trapped

Author:Lev Grossman

“I would like to undermine the stereotype of "strict philosophy." J.L. Austin remarked that, when philosophy is done well, it's all over by the bottom of the first page. I take him to have meant that the real work comes in setting up the problem with which you are dealing, and thus getting your reader to take particular things for granted.”

Firsts Wells Real Done Philosophy Problem Particular Reader Pages Bottom Setting Settings Granted Strict Stereotype Austin Real Work

Author:Philip Kitcher