Fiction Quotes | Beyond Motive

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Fiction Quotes

"His theory was that non-fiction could be as artful as fiction."

"His theory was that non-fiction could be as artful as fiction."

Gerald Clarke, Zimbabwean Politician

Fiction, Theory

50

"The neurotic is nailed to the cross of his fiction."

"The neurotic is nailed to the cross of his fiction."

Alfred Adler, Austrian Psychologist

17

"I think I had actually served my apprenticeship as a writer of fiction by writing all those songs. I had already been through phases of autobiographical or experimental stuff."

"I think I had actually served my apprenticeship as a writer of fiction by writing all those songs. I had already been through phases of autobiographical or experimental stuff."

Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese Author

Fiction, Songs, Writer, Writing

14

"There is no life here but the slow death of days, and so when the evil falls on the town, its coming seems almost preordained, sweet and morphic. It is almost as though the town knows the evil was coming and the shape it would take."

"There is no life here but the slow death of days, and so when the evil falls on the town, its coming seems almost preordained, sweet and morphic. It is almost as though the town knows the evil was coming and the shape it would take."

Stephen King, American Author

Fiction, Evil, Fate, Truth, Wisdom

12

"Good fiction is made of that which is real, and reality is difficult to come by."

"Good fiction is made of that which is real, and reality is difficult to come by."

Ralph Ellison, American Author

Fiction, Reality

11

"Every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic."

"Every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic."

John Le Carre, English Writer

11

"I read very widely, both non-fiction and fiction, so I don't think there's a single writer who influences me."

"I read very widely, both non-fiction and fiction, so I don't think there's a single writer who influences me."

Peter Benchley, American Author

Fiction, Writer

11

"I rather like getting away from fiction."

"I rather like getting away from fiction."

Penelope Lively, English Author

11

"And I sense it was a rather constructed, almost half narrative fiction film in some ways. A lot of it was staged and manipulated to get those things in there that I knew to be strong."

"And I sense it was a rather constructed, almost half narrative fiction film in some ways. A lot of it was staged and manipulated to get those things in there that I knew to be strong."

Terry Zwigoff, American Director

Fiction, Film, Sense

11

"Fiction is socially meaningful."

"Fiction is socially meaningful."

David Guterson, American Author

10

"A fiction about soft or easy deaths is part of the mythology of most diseases that are not considered shameful or demeaning."

"A fiction about soft or easy deaths is part of the mythology of most diseases that are not considered shameful or demeaning."

Susan Sontag, American Author

Fiction, Mythology

10

"A stage play requires very different craft from a book, fiction or otherwise, and ditto from a screenplay."

"A stage play requires very different craft from a book, fiction or otherwise, and ditto from a screenplay."

Dirk Benedict, American Actor

10

"I read the newspapers avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction."

"I read the newspapers avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction."

Aneurin Bevan, Welsh Politician

Fiction, Newspapers

10

"Create a world in which these things do or do not exist, or in which they are extended in some way. Test reality against this fiction. The reader will recognize the world that you're talking about, even though it may be another one altogether."

"Create a world in which these things do or do not exist, or in which they are extended in some way. Test reality against this fiction. The reader will recognize the world that you're talking about, even though it may be another one altogether."

Theodore Sturgeon, American Writer

Fiction, May, Reality, Talking

10

"What we've got here is a lunatic genius ghost-in-the-computer monorail that likes riddles and goes faster than the speed of sound. Welcome to the fantasy version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

"What we've got here is a lunatic genius ghost-in-the-computer monorail that likes riddles and goes faster than the speed of sound. Welcome to the fantasy version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Stephen King, American Author

Fiction, Genius, Madness, Fantasy, Technology

10

"It would be easier to write a novel without reader input, but I feel the fiction is richer for it."

"It would be easier to write a novel without reader input, but I feel the fiction is richer for it."

Piers Anthony, English Writer

10

"If you like to read, sometimes it's interesting just to go and see what the reality is, of the word, of the seedy or not so seedy fiction writer, the drunk or sober poet... Sometimes you can go looking for illumination."

"If you like to read, sometimes it's interesting just to go and see what the reality is, of the word, of the seedy or not so seedy fiction writer, the drunk or sober poet... Sometimes you can go looking for illumination."

Harold Brodkey, American Author

Fiction, Reality, Word, Writer

9

"Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures."

"Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures."

Jessamyn West, American Author

Fiction, Reality

9

"I do one Xanth novel a year, because at the moment that is all that publishers will accept; they don't want any other type of fiction from me, so Xanth pays my way."

"I do one Xanth novel a year, because at the moment that is all that publishers will accept; they don't want any other type of fiction from me, so Xanth pays my way."

Piers Anthony, English Writer

Fiction, Want, Will

9

"I no longer feel pressure to produce fiction."

"I no longer feel pressure to produce fiction."

George Murray, Canadian Poet

Fiction, Pressure

9

"And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement, and trespass charges already mentioned, and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy anymore. But he got away with it and lived happily ever after, without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done...which proves that you can be excused for just about anything if you are a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions."

"And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement, and trespass charges already mentioned, and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy anymore. But he got away with it and lived happily ever after, without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done...which proves that you can be excused for just about anything if you are a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions."

Terry Pratchett, English Author

Fiction, Justice, Heroism, Irony, Ethics

9

"Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything."

"Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything."

Ivana Trump, Czechoslovakian Celebrity

Fiction, Writing

9

"However far fiction writers stray from their own lives and experiences - and I stray pretty far from mine - I think, ultimately, that we may be writing what we need to write in some way, albeit unconsciously."

"However far fiction writers stray from their own lives and experiences - and I stray pretty far from mine - I think, ultimately, that we may be writing what we need to write in some way, albeit unconsciously."

Wally Lamb, American Author

Fiction, May, Pretty, Writers

9

"But I don't want to write my own fiction,' Cath said, as emphatically as she could. 'I don't want to write my own characters or my own worlds -- I don't care about them. . . . I'd rather pour myself into a world I love and understand than try to make something up out of nothing."

"But I don't want to write my own fiction,' Cath said, as emphatically as she could. 'I don't want to write my own characters or my own worlds -- I don't care about them. . . . I'd rather pour myself into a world I love and understand than try to make something up out of nothing."

Rainbow Rowell, American Author

Fiction, Writing, Imagination, Escape

9

"First of all, writing at best - certainly fiction writing - more and more I think is magic."

"First of all, writing at best - certainly fiction writing - more and more I think is magic."

Kathy Acker, American Activist

Fiction, First, Magic, Writing

9

"Fiction is experimentation; when it ceases to be that, it ceases to be fiction."

"Fiction is experimentation; when it ceases to be that, it ceases to be fiction."

John Cheever, American Writer

9

"Real magic is the hand around the bandsaw, the thrown spark in the powder keg, the dimension-warp linking you straight into the heart of a star, the flaming sword that burns all the way down to the pommel. Sooner juggle torches in a tar pit than mess with real magic. Sooner lie down in front of a thousand elephants."

"Real magic is the hand around the bandsaw, the thrown spark in the powder keg, the dimension-warp linking you straight into the heart of a star, the flaming sword that burns all the way down to the pommel. Sooner juggle torches in a tar pit than mess with real magic. Sooner lie down in front of a thousand elephants."

Terry Pratchett, English Author

Fiction, Danger, Magic, Truth, Power

9

"Given that external reality is a fiction, the writer's role is almost superfluous. He does not need to invent the fiction because it is already there."

"Given that external reality is a fiction, the writer's role is almost superfluous. He does not need to invent the fiction because it is already there."

J. G. Ballard, British Author

Fiction, Reality, Writer

9

"I'd have been a filmmaker or a cartoonist or something else which extended from the visual arts into the making of narratives if I hadn't been able to shift into fiction."

"I'd have been a filmmaker or a cartoonist or something else which extended from the visual arts into the making of narratives if I hadn't been able to shift into fiction."

Jonathan Lethem, American Writer

9

"It's not highly intellectual material. I'm dedicating it to the pulp fiction of the past."

"It's not highly intellectual material. I'm dedicating it to the pulp fiction of the past."

Bruce Boxleitner, American Actor

8

"I don't read a great deal of fiction, to my shame, other than the classics."

"I don't read a great deal of fiction, to my shame, other than the classics."

Richard Attenborough, English Actor

8

"Writers of fiction, when they begin, are more likely to try the short form."

"Writers of fiction, when they begin, are more likely to try the short form."

Irwin Shaw, American Novelist

Fiction, Writers

8

"I learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me."

"I learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me."

Jonathan Lethem, American Writer

8

"The pleasure of writing fiction is that you are always spotting some new approach, an alternative way of telling a story and manipulating characters; the novel is such a wonderfully flexible form."

"The pleasure of writing fiction is that you are always spotting some new approach, an alternative way of telling a story and manipulating characters; the novel is such a wonderfully flexible form."

Penelope Lively, English Author

Fiction, Pleasure, Writing

8

"One can easily classify all works of fiction either as descendants of the Iliad or of the Odyssey."

"One can easily classify all works of fiction either as descendants of the Iliad or of the Odyssey."

Raymond Queneau, French Poet

8

"I bought a selection of short, romantic fiction novels, studied them, decided that I had found a formula and then wrote a book that I figured was the perfect story. Thank goodness it was rejected."

"I bought a selection of short, romantic fiction novels, studied them, decided that I had found a formula and then wrote a book that I figured was the perfect story. Thank goodness it was rejected."

Louise Brown, English Celebrity

Fiction, Formula, Goodness, Romantic

8

"We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings."

"We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings."

Ben Okri, Nigerian Poet

Fiction, Humanity

8

"Writing fiction has developed in me an abiding respect for the unknown in a human lifetime and a sense of where to look for the threads, how to follow, how to connect, find in the thick of the tangle what clear line persists."

"Writing fiction has developed in me an abiding respect for the unknown in a human lifetime and a sense of where to look for the threads, how to follow, how to connect, find in the thick of the tangle what clear line persists."

Eudora Welty, American Author

Fiction, Respect, Sense, Writing

8

"I think good radio often uses the techniques of fiction: characters, scenes, a big urgent emotional question. And as in the best fiction, tone counts for a lot."

"I think good radio often uses the techniques of fiction: characters, scenes, a big urgent emotional question. And as in the best fiction, tone counts for a lot."

Ira Glass, American Journalist

Fiction, Question

8

"I did documentaries for maybe 10 years before I turned to fiction films."

"I did documentaries for maybe 10 years before I turned to fiction films."

Walter Salles, Brazilian Director

8

"To create a past that seemed authentic but would be a fiction, you need an invented language."

"To create a past that seemed authentic but would be a fiction, you need an invented language."

Jeanette Winterson, British Novelist

Fiction, Language, Past

8

"Fiction has consisted either of placing imaginary characters in a true story, which is the Iliad, or of presenting the story of an individual as having a general historical value, which is the Odyssey."

"Fiction has consisted either of placing imaginary characters in a true story, which is the Iliad, or of presenting the story of an individual as having a general historical value, which is the Odyssey."

Raymond Queneau, French Poet

8

"It seems that the fiction writer has a revolting attachment to the poor, for even when he writes about the rich, he is more concerned with what they lack than with what they have."

"It seems that the fiction writer has a revolting attachment to the poor, for even when he writes about the rich, he is more concerned with what they lack than with what they have."

Flannery O'Connor, American Author

Fiction, Poor, Writer

8

"There are some subjects that can only be tackled in fiction."

"There are some subjects that can only be tackled in fiction."

John Le Carre, English Writer

8

"I had been writing fiction since I was in eighth grade, because I loved it."

"I had been writing fiction since I was in eighth grade, because I loved it."

Thomas Perry, German Musician

Fiction, Writing

8

"But even gold is not everything: and only a fanatic, and a rather foolish fanatic, would say that this style of fiction summed up and exhausted all the good that fiction could give and do."

"But even gold is not everything: and only a fanatic, and a rather foolish fanatic, would say that this style of fiction summed up and exhausted all the good that fiction could give and do."

George Saintsbury, English Writer

Fiction, Gold, Style

7

"Memoirs are a well-known form of fiction."

"Memoirs are a well-known form of fiction."

Frank Harris, Irish Author

7

"As a kid, I didn't read a great deal of fiction, and I've forgotten most of what I did read."

"As a kid, I didn't read a great deal of fiction, and I've forgotten most of what I did read."

Mark Haddon, English Novelist

7

"I think it's Jerry's masterful fiction writing."

"I think it's Jerry's masterful fiction writing."

Tim LaHaye, American Clergyman

Fiction, Writing

7

"I was writing fiction, but not finishing fiction."

"I was writing fiction, but not finishing fiction."

Elizabeth Moon, American Author

Fiction, Writing

7

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