“My theory about writing is that one should write books you'd like to read, but no one else has written yet. So, as long as I stick with that, I'm entertaining myself, and then hopefully my readers as well. I hope to god I realize that I'm repeating myself, if I ever do. But if I don't, I'm sure my readers will let me know.” IfsKnowsShouldWritingWellsLongBookRealizingWrittenTheoryReaderLet MeSticksHopefullyEntertaining Author:Charles de Lint
“There are all sorts of theories and ideas about what constitutes a good opening line. It's tricky thing, and tough to talk about because I don't think conceptually while I work on a first draft -- I just write. To get scientific about it is a little like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. But there's one thing I'm sure about. An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” ThinkingKnowsWantShouldWritingTryingFirstsLittlesIdeasStoriesLinesOne ThingTheoryReaderToughOpeningInvitesTrickyJarsMoonbeams Author:Stephen King
“The reader might reflect that an awful lot of supposing has to take place in order for the quantity theory of money to be true.” MightOrderTheoryReaderBeing TrueAwfulQuantitySupposingSupposing That Author:Paul Ormerod
“One of my pet theories is that readers have built-in BS detectors that enable them to recognize insincerity in writers. David [Halberstam] was sincerity to the core. He believed in what he wrote, and that conviction conveyed itself to readers.” TheoryReaderBuiltConvictionCorePetSincerityInsincerity Author:Jonathan Yardley
“Your humble correspondent realizes that many readers are left-wing, anti-string-theory fighters. So they probably smoke marijuana and this is my modest attempt to help them.” HelpingLeftRealizingTheoryReaderWingsHumbleFighterSmokeStringsMarijuanaModestLeft WingString Theory Author:Lubos Motl
“I became a little alarmed at the number of my readers who took the meme more positively as a theory of human culture in its own right - either to criticize it (unfairly, given my original modest intention) or to carry it far beyond the limits of what I then thought justified. This was why I may have seemed to backtrack.” HumansMayLittlesCultureGivenNumbersAtheismTheoryReaderLimitsOriginalsIntentionPositive AtheismCriticizeModestJustifiedPositivelyMemes Book:A Devil's Chaplain Source: A Devil's Chaplain
“One might get the impression that I recommend a new methodology which replaces induction by counterinduction and uses a multiplicity of theories, metaphysical views, fairy tales, instead of the customary pair theory/observation. This impression would certainly be mistaken. My intention is not to replace one set of general rules by another such set: my intention is rather to convince the reader that all methodologies, even the most obvious ones, have their limits.” UseMightScienceViewsTheoryReaderLimitsIntentionObviousImpressionTalesObservationFairyConvincePairsFairy TaleMistakenMetaphysicalMultiplicityScientific MethodEpistemologyMethodology Book:Against Method Source: Against Method
“[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.” IfsThinkingKnowsArtRealLastsPleasureModernHavensHonestyExampleIgnorancePaintingTheoryReaderBlameResponseSurfaceGenuineComicComic StripsHarshnessReal Truth Author:Chris Ware
“I am often talking about the ideas collected in Normal Life in contexts that are not academic, or that are full of people who are not primarily engaging as theorists or theory-readers. Being able to make ideas visual, especially critical ideas about movements that can be difficult to hear because of attachments we have to certain national narratives, or because of ways that we see ourselves, is especially useful.” PeopleWayIdeasAbleCertainDifficultTalkingMovementTheoryReaderNormalCriticalNarrativeVisualsAttachmentAcademicEngagingNormal LifeTheorists Author:Dean Spade
“I hope any poem I've ever written could stand on its own and not need to be a part of biography, critical theory or cultural studies. I don't want to give a poetry reading and have to provide the story behind the poem in order for it to make sense to an audience. I certainly don't want the poem to require a critical intermediary - a "spokescritic." I want my poems to be independently meaningful moments of power for a good reader. And that's the expectation I initially bring to other poets' writing.” WantNeedsGivingWritingMomentsStoriesOrderReadingBehindsAudienceStudyWrittenPoetTheoryReaderExpectationsCriticalMeaningfulMake SenseBiographiesPoetry ReadingCritical TheoryMeaningful Moments Author:Albert Goldbarth
“Singularity theory is something that I do believe will come to pass, sooner or later, although whether or not in our lifetime I don't know, and I'm not sitting around waiting for my father to be resurrected. Readers probably have the impression from the book that I'm a lot more a of a techno kook than I actually am. It became a convenient fulcrum in the story, sort of a kaleidoscope through which to address religious and spiritual questions.” KnowsBelieveBookStoriesSpiritualFatherWaitingReligiousTheoryReaderSittingLifetimeImpressionAddressesSooner Or LaterConvenientSitting AroundSingularityBeing A FatherTechnoKaleidoscopeSitting Around WaitingFulcrum Author:Ron Currie Jr.
“To me, the writer's main job is to just make the story unscroll in such a way that the reader is snared - she's right there, seeing things happen and caring about them. And if you dedicate yourself to this job, the meanings more or less take care of themselves. That's the theory, anyway.” IfsWayStoriesHappensCareJobsSeeingTheoryReaderCaringTake CareThings Happen Author:George Saunders