“I think that's a hallmark of a really good story that it has readers that it speaks to more than others.” ThinkingStoriesSpeakReaderGood StoryHallmark Author:Erin Morgenstern
“When you live alone you no longer know what it is to tell a story: the plausible disappears at the same time as the friends. You let events flow by too: you suddenly see people appear who speak and then go away; you plunge into stories of which you can't make head or tail: you'd make a terrible witness.” PeopleKnowsStoriesSpeakEventsTerribleFlowDisappearWitnessGoing AwayTailsPlungePlausibleHeads Or Tails Author:Jean-Paul Sartre
“A dream inspiring a story is different than placing a description of a dream in a story. When you describe a character's dream, it has to be sharper than reality in some way, and more meaningful. It has to somehow speak to plot, character, and all the rest. If you're writing something fantastical, it can be a really deadly choice because your story already has elements that can seem dreamlike.” IfsWayWritingDifferentCharacterStoriesDreamRealitySeemsChoicesSpeakElementsMeaningfulDescriptionPlot Author:Jeff VanderMeer
“I see this with experienced writers, too: They worry so much about the plot that they lose sight of the characters. They lose sight of why they are telling the story. They don't let the characters actually speak. Characters will start to dictate the story in sometimes surprising, emotional, and funny ways. If the writers are not open to those surprises, they're going to strangle the life, spark, or spirit out of their work.” IfsWayBookSometimesCharacterStoriesSpiritSpeakLosesWorryEmotionalSightSurpriseComicPlotSparksSurprisingComic Book Author:Brian Michael Bendis
“The immersive stories of This Is Paradise are a lithe blend of formal invention and traditional narrative pleasures. As such they reflect Kristiana Kahakauwila's intimate but expansive vision of a Hawai'i forged from the collisions of past and present, here and there. Her protagonists are as richly distinctive as the pidgin they speak, and yet each struggles profoundly with identity-that negotiation between ourselves and the world, which is at once Hawaiian, American, universally and compellingly human.” WorldHumansStoriesPastSpeakPleasureVisionStruggleIdentityInventionTraditionalNarrativeIntimateParadiseFormalNegotiationHere And ThereDistinctiveProtagonistsPast And PresentCollisionForgedHawaiians Author:Peter Ho Davies
“Someone responding to the story said 'real spies do not speak like that'. Well, I am a spy and that is how they talk. Whenever we had a debate in the office on how to handle crimes, they do not defend due process - they defend decisive action. They say it is better to kick someone out of a plane than let these people have a day in court. It is an authoritarian mindset in general.” PeopleWellsSaidRealStoriesActionSpeakProcessCrimeOfficeCourtMindsetDuesDebateHandlePlanesKicksSpyRespondingNsaDue ProcessDecisive Action Author:Edward Snowden
“Many readers share their stories with me and if one speaks to me (or if the same theme keeps coming at me), I will research it and decide if it would make a good book. But, straight down to it, people inspire me.” PeopleIfsBookStoriesSpeakShareInspireReaderResearchThemeGood Book Author:Ellen Hopkins