“Nothing, except the weather report or a general maxim of conduct, is so unsafe to rely upon as a theory of fiction.” LiteratureFictionTheoryWeatherRelyReportsMaximsUnsafeRely Upon Book:Works Source: Works
“At DePauw, I was teaching writing and fiction. The things I wanted to teach, more than anything else, were form and theory of the novel, of narrative. I liked those classes.” WritingWantedFormFictionClassTeachNovelTeachingTheoryNarrativeTeaching Writing Author:Nic Pizzolatto
“And theories are no more than fictions which help us to make sense of experience and which are subject to disconfirmation when their explanations are no longer adequate.” HelpingFictionSubjectsTheoryMake SenseExplanationAdequate Book:Hopes and impediments: selected essays Source: Hopes and impediments: selected essays
“Any woman who wishes to be an intellectual, to write non-fiction, to deal with theory, faces a lot of discrimination coming her way and perhaps even self-doubt because there aren't that many who've gone before you. And I think that the most powerful tool we can have is to be clear about our intent. To know what it is we want to do rather than going into institutions thinking that the institution is going to frame for us.” ThinkingKnowsWayWantWritingSelfFacesWishDealsPowerfulFictionGoneClearDoubtTheoryIntellectualToolsInstitutionsDiscriminationMost PowerfulNon FictionSelf-doubt Author:Bell Hooks
“I grew up in the heat of '70s postmodern fiction and post-Godard films, and there was this idea that what mattered was the theory or meta in art.” ArtIdeasFilmFictionTheoryGrewGrew UpPostsHeatPostmodern Author:Noah Baumbach
“Journalism only tells us what men are doing; it is fiction that tells us what they are thinking, and still more what they are feeling. If a new scientific theory finds the soul of a man in his dreams, at least it ought not to leave out his day-dreams. And all fiction is only a diary of day-dreams instead of days. And this profound preoccupation of men's minds with certain things always eventually has an effect even on the external expression of the age.” IfsThinkingMenMindStillsSoulFeelingsDreamAgeCertainFictionEffectsExpressionTheoryOughtProfoundJournalismDiariesPreoccupationScientific Theory Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
“One of the most important revelations about a period comes in its theory of language, for that informs us whether language is viewed as a bridge to the noumenal or as a body of fictions convenient for grappling with transitory phenomena.” ImportantBodyLanguageFictionTheoryPeriodsBridgesRevelationsConvenientTransitoryGrappling Book:Ideas Have Consequences: Expanded Edition Source: Ideas Have Consequences: Expanded Edition
“Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein's general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out.” UsedSpaceFictionPossibilityTheoryReturnTravelScience FictionUsed To BeTime TravelRocketsRelativityWarpSpace TimeRocket ScienceTheories Of RelativityGeneral Relativity Author:Stephen Hawking
“I try to tell student writers to read as much as possible, not only literature but philosophy, theory, and to form obsessions. There's a big taboo in fiction creative writing workshops against using the self at all, and I think I try to encourage students to write the self, but to connect the self to something larger, which is to be this thinking, seeing, searching, eternally curious person, and that writing can come out of investigating and trying to understand confusion, and doubts, and obsessions.” ThinkingWritingTryingPersonsSelfPhilosophyBigsFormLiteratureFictionCreativeDoubtSeeingStudentsTheoryObsessionConfusionCuriousCreative WritingTabooWorkshopsInvestigatingWriting WorkshopEncourage Students Author:Kate Zambreno
“Science fiction - and the correct shortcut is 'sf' - uses actual scientific facts or theories for the source ideas or framework of the story. It has some scientific content, however speculative. If it breaks a law of physics, it knows it's doing so and follows up the consequences. If it invents a society of aliens, it does so with some respect for and knowledge of the social sciences and what you might call social probabilities. And some of it is literarily self-aware enough to treat its metaphors as metaphors.” IfsKnowsDoeIdeasSelfEnoughFactsStoriesUseMightLawSocialFictionBreakTheorySourceConsequenceTreatsScience FictionMetaphorPhysicsAliensProbabilityFrameworkShortcutsSocial ScienceLaws Of PhysicsScientific FactsFollow Up Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
“I have a lot of theories about the beneficial effects of fiction, but I'm always trying to get away from them a little bit.” TryingLittlesBitsFictionEffectsTheoryLittle BitGet AwayBeneficialAlways Trying Author:George Saunders