Fiction Quotes | Beyond Motive 4/4

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Fiction Quotes

"Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species."

"Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species."

John Green, American Author

Fiction, Truth, Imagination, Humanity

1

"With respect to the requirement of art, the probable impossible is always preferable to the improbable possible."

"With respect to the requirement of art, the probable impossible is always preferable to the improbable possible."

Aristotle, Greek Philosopher

Fiction, Art, Imagination, Possibility, Reality

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"You can't burn down a made-up place."

"You can't burn down a made-up place."

John Green, American Author

Fiction, Imagination, Reality, Escape, Truth

1

"Now the second common characteristic of fiction follows from this, and it is that fiction is presented in such a way that the reader has the sense that it is unfolding around him. This doesn't mean he has to identify himself with the character or feel compassion for the character or anything like that. It just means that fiction has to be largely presented rather than reported. Another way to say it is that though fiction is a narrative art, it relies heavily on the element of drama."

"Now the second common characteristic of fiction follows from this, and it is that fiction is presented in such a way that the reader has the sense that it is unfolding around him. This doesn't mean he has to identify himself with the character or feel compassion for the character or anything like that. It just means that fiction has to be largely presented rather than reported. Another way to say it is that though fiction is a narrative art, it relies heavily on the element of drama."

Flannery O'Connor, American Author

Fiction, Narrative, Drama, Presentation

1

"Flakes of snow swirled and danced across the porch. The Overlook faced it as it had for nearly three-quarters of a century, its darkened windows now bearded with snow, indifferent to the fact it was now cut off from the world. Inside its shell the three of them went about their early evening routine, like microbes trapped in the intestine of a monster."

"Flakes of snow swirled and danced across the porch. The Overlook faced it as it had for nearly three-quarters of a century, its darkened windows now bearded with snow, indifferent to the fact it was now cut off from the world. Inside its shell the three of them went about their early evening routine, like microbes trapped in the intestine of a monster."

Stephen King, American Author

Fiction, Isolation, Survival, Routine, Nature

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"Bilbo Baggins was standing at his door after breakfast smoking an enormous long wooden pipe that reached nearly down to his woolly toes (neatly brushed)-Gandalf came by."

"Bilbo Baggins was standing at his door after breakfast smoking an enormous long wooden pipe that reached nearly down to his woolly toes (neatly brushed)-Gandalf came by."

J. R. R. Tolkien, English Novelist

Fiction, Smoking, Fantasy, Character

1

"Fiction was invented the day Jonah arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale.."

"Fiction was invented the day Jonah arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale.."

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombian Novelist

Fiction, Storytelling, Imagination, Myth

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"The whole point of the wish business was to see to it that what the client got was exactly what he asked for and exactly what he didn't really want."

"The whole point of the wish business was to see to it that what the client got was exactly what he asked for and exactly what he didn't really want."

Terry Pratchett, English Author

Fiction, Wish, Desire, Irony, Mistake

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"But to be perfectly frank, this childish idea that the author of a novel has some special insight into the characters in the novel...it's ridiculous. That novel was composed of scratches on a page, dear. The characters inhabiting it have no life outside of those scratches. What happened to them? They all ceased to exist the moment the novel ended."

"But to be perfectly frank, this childish idea that the author of a novel has some special insight into the characters in the novel...it's ridiculous. That novel was composed of scratches on a page, dear. The characters inhabiting it have no life outside of those scratches. What happened to them? They all ceased to exist the moment the novel ended."

John Green, American Author

Fiction, Novel, Reality, Truth, Life

1

"Literary fiction, as a strict genre, is all but dead. Meanwhile, most genres flourish."

"Literary fiction, as a strict genre, is all but dead. Meanwhile, most genres flourish."

Dean Koontz, American Author

Fiction, Literary

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"The beautiful illusion of fiction is that everything makes sense and that there was a purpose, that there was a point to it all. And that's the best possible lie because it may even be true."

"The beautiful illusion of fiction is that everything makes sense and that there was a purpose, that there was a point to it all. And that's the best possible lie because it may even be true."

Neil Gaiman, British Author

Fiction, Illusion, Truth, Purpose

"Fiction leaves us so much work to do, allows the individual so much input; you have to see, you have to hear, you have to taste the madeleine, and while you are seemingly passive in your chair, you have to travel."

"Fiction leaves us so much work to do, allows the individual so much input; you have to see, you have to hear, you have to taste the madeleine, and while you are seemingly passive in your chair, you have to travel."

Hilary Mantel, British Novelist

Fiction, Imagination, Engagement, Creativity

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