I believe that a work of art, like metaphors in language, can ask the most serious, difficult questions in a way which really makes the readers answer for themselves; that the work of art far more than an essay or a tract involves the reader, challenges him directly and brings him into the argument.
Admiration from my readers inspire me, and the only ‘formula’ I believe in towards making a good writer is: ‘to thine own self be true!’
If readers tell you that stretches of dialogue or narrative were too long, that they couldn’t tell who was talking, that’s something that can be fixed.
The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by five hundred readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the five hundred, he reaches the five hundred thousand.
There will always be non-readers, bad readers, lazy readers – there always were.
I don’t write the kind of ‘happily ever after’ that romance readers enjoy.
There’s something about the idea of writing, and thinking about writing as a form of prayer – the way as a writer you call out into the world and throw your words into the world. You’re not praying to a god, but you’re almost conjuring a reader to arrive. That’s what books do: they’re an invitation to readers.
Digital books and other texts are increasingly coming under the control of distributors and other gatekeepers rather than readers and libraries.
I began tailoring my books to cater to one or another universe of readers. I found it incredibly boring; and frankly, it felt stultifying. I’d previously been in advertising. I felt if I was going to create something to fit a specific market, I might as well have stayed with advertising.
I want my readers to find their own way.
A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators.
I don’t laugh that much, but I do like humorous books, and I like to entertain readers that way.
I talk to my readers on social networking sites, but I never tell them what the book is about. Writing is lonely, so from time to time I talk to them on the Internet. It’s like chatting at a bar without leaving your office. I talk with them about a lot of things other than my books.
If a translation doesn’t have obvious writing problems, it may seem quite all right at first glance. We readers, after all, quickly adapt to the style of a translator, stop noticing it, and get caught up in the story.
I was studying with Peter Carey, Colum McCann; but also, my fellow students were really critical readers for me.
It’s been a great place to get in touch with what people are really thinking. And to make contact with readers and other writers. Egalitarian, wide open, like the Wild West!
When I am composing, I try to clear my mind of having to publish, or having to sell a book or find readers. That kind of thinking gets in the way.
I know what the attitudes of the readers are: These are guys who love women and respect women.
You can’t mess around with young readers – you have to cut straight to the heart of the story. The character can be complex, the plot can have some surprises, but the emotions have to be clear.
I’m a reader. I found out that, whether you’re a studio head or a director, you must read your own material. You can’t rely on readers.
Readers have always read high and low, and to fight that urge is to fight the freedom inherent in the act of reading itself. The only arguments that have any traction, as best as I can see it, are about whether the genre classification of ‘young adult’ should exist at all.
I want my books to force readers to recognise the fact that a woman is a human being just like them.
Readers are always surprised to learn that authors have little or no input regarding the cover art for their books.
One of the things that I tell beginning writers is this: If you describe a landscape, or a cityscape, or a seascape, always be sure to put a human figure somewhere in the scene. Why? Because readers are human beings, mostly interested in human beings. People are humanists. Most of them are humanists, that is.
I tell beginning readers to read a lot and write a lot. If you want to write a book, find a subject that’s really worth the time and effort you’ll put in.
I want to say that I really appreciate that readers are willing to work with my tendency to write in several different genres and for different age groups.
In any event, it’s not exactly a secret to regular readers what my views on the war are.
Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul.
Lisbeth Salander is one of the most compelling heroines of 21st century crime literature, and I am thrilled to see readers have welcomed her return.
I said in my acceptance speech that I hope that readers remember this not as the year I won the Booker, but the year that there were six extraordinary books on the shortlist.
A book, like a landscape, is a state of consciousness varying with readers.
We decided we wanted the site to provide readers with fresh new stories to enjoy between major book releases by their favorite authors while allowing those same authors to flex their creative muscles.
If you know how to read, you have a complete education about life, then you know how to vote within a democracy. But if you don’t know how to read, you don’t know how to decide. That’s the great thing about our country – we’re a democracy of readers, and we should keep it that way.
Readers are paramount. I live to write books for them.
I dislike literary jargon and never use it. Criticism has only one function and that is to help readers read and understand literature. It is not a science, it is an aid to art.
Once I found this possibility to use Twitter and Facebook and my blog to connect to my readers, I’m going to use it, to connect to them and to share thoughts that I cannot use in the book.
It’s not uncommon for men to show up at my book signings or to send me emails with their thoughts about my books. I’ve also heard from a number of female readers who were introduced to my works by men in their lives.
From the beginning on, newspapers have prospered for one reason: giving readers the news that they want.
‘Throne of Glass’ readers tend to be passionate, talented, clever, and welcoming – in fact, I’m consistently moved by just how welcoming ‘TOG’ readers are to new fans.
‘Blowback,’ as many ‘Nation’ readers are aware, was a term introduced into popular circulation by the late political scientist Chalmers Johnson, an old Cold Warrior turned dissident.
The world may be full of fourth-rate writers but it’s also full of fourth-rate readers.
I love the fact that you collaborate with your readers when you write a book.
I can’t promise that every child with learning differences will become a novelist, but I do think all children can become lifelong readers.
I’d like for the young people, and older ones, too, who don’t count themselves as readers, to know the joy of reading and what it does to enrich your life in so many ways.
Writers of novels and romance in general bring a double loss to their readers; robbing them of their time and money; representing men, manners, and things, that never have been, or are likely to be.
Making ‘Birdsong,’ on the one hand you have how prestigious it is and the reputation of the book, which is something that’s an extraordinary piece of work. Sebastian Faulkes is a genius. So you feel that responsibility when you’re portraying that character that he’s imagined and millions of readers have pictured.
The original idea was to make it easy to publish content on the Web and find an audience. What we learned from publishers is that the thing they want the most is more readers and more revenue.
For me, as a writer, I desperately want to be read. I’m very conscious of readers as I’m writing. I think, ‘If you write for yourself, then why don’t you just keep it under the bed,’ so I definitely write for other people.
Myths are part of our DNA. We’re a civilisation with a continuous culture. The effort to modernize it keeps it alive. Readers connect with it.
The challenge is always to find the good place to end the book. The rule I follow with myself is that every book should end where the next book would logically begin. I know that some readers wish that literally all of the threads would be neatly tied off and snipped, but life just doesn’t work that way.
I actually have a young readers’ series that I wanna do, kind of in the same lane as a Harry Potter or Narnia or Twilight. I want to write stuff like that.
The impossibility of a sequel ever recapturing everything – or anything – about its ancestor never stopped legions of writers from trying, or hordes of readers and publishers from demanding more of what they previously enjoyed.
Dostoevski does not tell you what to think about his legend, but he requires that you think about it. The novelist was a deeply religious man and he always thought many readers missed that point about him.
The publishing world is very timid. Readers are much braver.
