Octavia Butler Quotes - Page 4

Quotes about:

• Most of what I do is science fiction. Some of the things I do are fantasy. I don't like the labels, they're marketing tools, and I certainly don't worry about them when I'm writing. They are also inhibiting factors; you wind up not getting read by certain people, or not getting sold to certain people because they think they know what you write. You say science fiction and everybody thinks Star Wars or Star Trek.

  Octavia Butler

  Stars, War, Writing

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• ...I realized that I knew less about loneliness than I had thought - and much less than I would know when he went away.

  Octavia Butler

  Loneliness, I Realized, Knows

  Octavia Butler (2004). “Kindred”, p.57, Beacon Press

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• I'm literate, and the idea of leaving children illiterate is criminal.

  Octavia Butler

  Children, Ideas, Leaving

  Octavia E. Butler (2012). “Parable of the Talents”, p.442, Open Road Media

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• Souls! When have you seen your own soul - that you're so certain you have one?

  Octavia Butler

  Soul, Certain

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• A victim of God may, Through learning adaption, Become a partner of God, A victim of God may, Through forethought and planning, Become a shaper of God. Or a victim of God may, Through shortsightedness and fear, Remain God's victim, God's plaything, God's prey.

  Octavia Butler

  May, Planning, Victim

  Octavia E. Butler (2017). “Earthseed: The Complete Series”, p.40, Open Road Media

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• I wasn't trying to work out my own ancestry. I was trying to get people to feel slavery. I was trying to get across the kind of emotional and psychological stones that slavery threw at people.

  Octavia Butler

  Emotional, People, Work Out

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• A workshop is a way of renting an audience, and making sure you're communicating what you think you're communicating. It's so easy as a young writer to think you're been very clear when in fact you haven't.

  Octavia Butler

  Thinking, Way, Facts

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• You are horror and beauty in rare combination.

  Octavia Butler

  Beauty, Horror, Combination

  Octavia E. Butler (2012). “Dawn”, p.194, Open Road Media

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• Fantasy is totally wide open; all you really have to do is follow the rules you've set. But if you're writing about science, you have to first learn what you're writing about.

  Octavia Butler

  Writing, Firsts, Fantasy

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• I was raised Baptist, and I like the fact that I got my conscience installed early.

  Octavia Butler

  Baptists, Facts, Raised

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• Religion kept some of my relatives alive, because it was all they had. If they hadn't had some hope of heaven, some companionship in Jesus, they probably would have committed suicide, their lives were so hellish.

  Octavia Butler

  Suicide, Jesus, Heaven

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• Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation.

  Octavia Butler

  Mean, Civilization, Groups

  Octavia E. Butler (2012). “Parable of the Sower”, p.114, Open Road Media

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• Once you grow past Mommy and Daddy coming running when you're hurt, you're really on your own. You're alone, and there's no one to help you.

  Octavia Butler

  Running, Hurt, Past

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• No one was going to stop me from writing and no one had to really guide me towards science fiction. It was natural, really, that I would take that interest.

  Octavia Butler

  Writing, Fiction, Natural

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• I recognize we will pay more attention when we have different leadership.

  Octavia Butler

  Different, Attention, Pay

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• I lost an arm on my last trip home.

  Octavia Butler

  Home, Arms, Lasts

  Octavia Butler (2004). “Kindred”, p.9, Beacon Press

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• Most of us don't have to worry about being shot of we poke our noses outside. So we are comfortable, but the people I'm writing about are definitely not comfortable, and being shot while they're still inside is a good possibility.

  Octavia Butler

  Writing, People, Worry

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• It's interesting how many science fiction writers get going when they are very young. I was on a program with Greg Bear and he mentioned that he had gotten started writing when he was eight. And I began writing when I was 10. I think we're influenced by the stuff, we find it and we love it and we're influenced by it....I know I collected my first rejection slip when I was 13, and I went on collecting them for a long time after that.

  Octavia Butler

  Writing, Thinking, Eight

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• And by the way, I wanted to point out that Kindred is not science fiction. You'll note there's no science in it. It's a kind of grim fantasy.

  Octavia Butler

  Fiction, Way, Fantasy

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• What I'm working on now - I'm back to fantasy, although considering that it's me, I'm turning it into a kind of science fantasy. It's a vampire story - but my vampires are biological vampires. They didn't become vampires because someone bit them; they were born that way.

  Octavia Butler

  Ghouls, Vampire, Stories

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• Science fiction let me do both. It let me look into science and stick my nose in everywhere.

  Octavia Butler

  Looks, Fiction, Noses

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• The essentials are to learn to shape God with forethought, care, and work; to educate and benefit their community, their families and themselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny.

  Octavia Butler

  Destiny, Community, Essentials

  Octavia E. Butler (2017). “Earthseed: The Complete Series”, p.310, Open Road Media

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• Margaret Weylin complained because she couldn't find anything to complain about.

  Octavia Butler

  Complaining

  Octavia Butler (2004). “Kindred”, p.81, Beacon Press

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• Dad decided not to vote for Donner after all. He didn't vote for anyone. He said politicians turned his stomach.

  Octavia Butler

  Dad, Vote, Politician

  Octavia E. Butler (2017). “Earthseed: The Complete Series”, p.38, Open Road Media

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• Third, for people who aren't doing it already, take classes - they're worthwhile. Workshops or classes - a workshop is where you do actually get feedback on your work, not just something where you go and sit for a day.

  Octavia Butler

  Class, People, Feedback

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