“Until recently we’ve only been able to speculate about story's persuasive effects. But over the last several decades psychology has begun a serious study of how story affects the human mind. Results repeatedly show that our attitudes, fears, hopes, and values are strongly influenced by story. In fact, fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than writing that is specifically designed to persuade through argument and evidence.” WritingMindHumansFactsStoriesShowsSeemsAbleLastsValuesBeliefResultsAttitudeFictionStudyPsychologyEffectsSeriousEvidenceArgumentDecadesHuman MindPersuasive Author:Jonathan Gottschall
“There are many pleasant fictions of the law in constant operation, but there is not one so pleasant or practically humorous as that which supposes every man to be of equal value in its impartial eye, and the benefits of all laws to be equally attainable by all men, without the smallest reference to the furniture of their pockets.” MenEyeLawValuesFictionEqualBenefitsHumorousConstantEvery ManOperationsPleasantPocketsSmallestFurniture Book:The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby Source: The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby
“When I say that I can write nothing but weird fiction, I am not trying to exalt that medium but am merely confessing my own weakness. The reason I can't write other kinds is not that I don't value & respect them, but merely that my slender set of endowments does not enable me to extract a compellingly acute personal sense of interest & drama from the natural phenomena of life.” WritingTryingKindDoeI CanReasonValuesInterestNaturalMy OwnFictionDramaWeaknessMediumsEndowmentSlenderConfessingNatural Phenomena Author:H. P. Lovecraft
“It's not fiction's job to be photographically representative of reality. If I want to make a fictional world where there's no kindness, this doesn't mean I believe there's no kindness in the real world. In fact, what it may mean is that I very much value kindness. Like if you make a painting in which only greens are allowed, it wouldn't mean you don't believe in blue.” IfsWorldWantBelieveMayMeanRealFactsRealityJobsValuesI BelieveFictionKindnessPaintingBlueDon't BelieveReal WorldRepresentativesFictional Worlds Author:George Saunders
“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.” IfsFeelsRealCharacterValuesFictionWorryWeekDevelopmentReaderWalkingPerfectionStoresManageGroceriesCharacter DevelopmentAisleGrocery Stores Author:J. Courtney Sullivan
“I know that for every reader who has lost the habit or can't find the time, there are people who've never enjoyed reading and question the value of literature, either as entertainment or education, or believe that a love of books, and of fiction in particular, is sentimental or frivolous.” PeopleKnowsBelieveBookValuesReadingLiteratureLostFictionParticularReaderHabitEntertainmentEnjoyedSentimentalFrivolousSentimental Value Author:David Nicholls
“To value the tradition of, and the discipline required for, the craft of fiction seems today pointless. The real Arcadia is a lonely, mountainous plateau, overbouldered and strewn with the skulls of sheep slain for vellum and old bitten pinions that tried to be quills. It's forty rough miles by mule from Athens, a city where there's a fair, a movie house, cotton candy.” RealSeemsTodayValuesLiteratureHouseCitiesFictionDisciplineFairsTraditionLonelyMilesCraftsFortyRoughSheepCandyPointlessSkullsCottonAthensMulesArcadiaQuillsCotton Candy Author:Alexander Theroux