“The best thing about writing fiction is that moment where the story catches fire and comes to life on the page, and suddenly it all makes sense and you know what it's about and why you're doing it and what these people are saying and doing, and you get to feel like both the creator and the audience. Everything is suddenly both obvious and surprising ("but of course that's why he was doing that, and that means that...") and it's magic and wonderful and strange.” PeopleKnowsFeelsWritingMeanMomentsStoriesCoursesFictionAudienceFireWonderfulMagicStrangePagesObviousCreatorMake SenseBest ThingsThat MomentSurprisingWriting FictionSaying And Doing Author:Neil Gaiman
“End-of-the-world stories tend to ring true. I've always been drawn to them, but as I wrote my own, I found surprising pleasure in creating a world that is so radically changed, yet where there's so much meaning and value in every small and ordinary thing we have, and take for granted: hot showers, enough food, friends, routines.” WorldEndsEnoughStoriesValuesFoundMy OwnPleasureChangedCreatingOrdinaryHotRingsGrantedSurprisingShowersEnd Of The WorldOrdinary Things Author:Karen Thompson Walker
“Writing a story requires you to understand how the world works, how characters think, how their emotions drive them to do surprising things, and so on. In other words, as a writer, you have to be more than a stylist. You need to learn to become a master of storytelling.” ThinkingWorldNeedsWritingCharacterStoriesEmotionMastersStorytellingSurprisingStylistSurprising Things Author:David Farland
“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
“With ferocity and extraordinary craft, Lizzie Harris has made a book of poems that resonates far beyond the personal stories it tells. Stop Wanting reveals, in every lyric, its author's profound metaphorical gifts. In its ironies and intensities, it brings to mind a writer like the young Sylvia Plath, though what is startling about Harris' s work is the way it combines those gifts with a muted, deft self-awareness. Most of all, these are wonderfully shaped, powerful, and surprising poems-a startling debut.” WayMindMadeBookSelfStoriesYoungPowerfulAwarenessSelf AwarenessProfoundExtraordinaryCraftsIronyIntensitySurprisingDebutMetaphoricalFerocityPersonal StoriesPlath Author:Meghan O'Rourke