Nonfiction Quotes

• I still believe nonfiction is the most important literature to come out of the second half of the 20th century.

  Tom Wolfe

  Believe, Important, Half

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• It's the technique, I think, of writing a novel that is difficult for a nonfiction writer.

  E. O. Wilson

  Writing, Thinking, Technique

  "Ants and Answers: A Conversation with E. O. Wilson" by Deborah Treisman, www.newyorker.com. January 15, 2010.

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• In this time of the Internet and nonfiction, to be on an actual bookshelf in an actual bookstore is exciting in itself.

  Chris Abani

  Bookstores, Internet, Exciting

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• You can tell a more over-the-top incredible story if you use a nonfiction form.

  Chuck Palahniuk

  Stories, Use, Incredibles

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• People respect nonfiction but they read novels.

  E. O. Wilson

  People, Novel

  "EO Wilson: Our Greatest Biologist Writes A Novel, ‘Anthill’". Interview with Steve Ross, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 5, 2010.

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• I think the goal with any writing, but especially narrative nonfiction, is to put the blockade of putting your thoughts in this unnatural medium of print and then trying to reach through that and actually convey what's going on, what you think, and make people laugh and recognize themselves while doing it. Definitely the laughing thing.

  Sloane Crosley

  Writing, Thinking, People

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• I am consumed, or I have been consumed, with these issues of motherhood and the way we act out societal expectations and roles. So both my nonfiction and my fiction have been pretty much exclusively about that.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Motherhood, Issues, Expectations

  "Ayelet Waldman on Acting Your Age". Interview with Tim J Luddy, www.motherjones.com. November/December 2009.

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• I come from a little island with the Caribbean Sea on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. I come from, really, nowhere, and for me, the fiction and the nonfiction, creative or otherwise, all come from the same place.

  Jamaica Kincaid

  Ocean, Islands, Sea

  "Jamaica Kincaid talks about 'See Now Then'". Interview with Kevin Nance, www.chicagotribune.com. February 16, 2013.

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• Writing nonfiction is more like sculpture, a matter of shaping the research into the finished thing.

  Joan Didion

  Writing, Sculpture, Research

  "Joan Didion, The Art of Nonfiction No. 1". Interview with Hilton Als, www.theparisreview.org. 2006.

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• There is always a certain leap of faith that editors have made with their nonfiction writers. If the trust is broken, things can get very embarrassing for the writers and the publisher.

  A. Scott Berg

  Editors, Broken, Leap Of Faith

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• I don't read for amusement, I read for enlightenment. I do a lot of reviewing, so I have a steady assignment of reading. I'm also a judge for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, which gives awards to literature and nonfiction.

  Joyce Carol Oates

  Book, Reading, Awards

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• My platform has been to reach reluctant readers. And one of the best ways I found to motivate them is to connect them with reading that interests them, to expand the definition of reading to include humor, science fiction/fantasy, nonfiction, graphic novels, wordless books, audio books and comic books.

  Jon Scieszka

  Book, Reading, Fiction

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• In fiction, when you paint yourself into a corner, you can write a pair of suction cups onto the bottoms of your shoes and walk up the wall and out the skylight and see the sun breaking through the clouds. In nonfiction, you don't have that luxury.

  Tom Robbins

  Wall, Writing, Clouds

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• I would, however, start writing fiction about 10 years before I actually did, because it's such great fun to do, many times more creative than nonfiction.

  Judith Krantz

  Fun, Writing, Creative Nonfiction

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• But with nonfiction, the task is very straightforward: Do the research, tell the story

  Laura Hillenbrand

  Tasks, Stories, Research

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• Every time I write a nonfiction book I get sued.

  Joseph Wambaugh

  Book, Writing

  Interview with Ann Bruns, www.bookreporter.com. May 17, 2002.

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• Now that I'm taking some time off from school, I've been reading a lot to make sure I don't forget everything. It's mostly classics and nonfiction accounts from actors, directors and writers from the '40s and '50s

  Fred Savage

  Reading, School, Forget Everything

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I have written two nonfiction books, I'm embarrassed to say.

  Dirk Benedict

  Book, Two, Fiction And Nonfiction

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• My favourite all-time work of fiction: Lord of the Rings. My favourite all-time nonfiction book: Guns, Germs, and Steel. Ask me again next week, you'll get a different answer.

  Orson Scott Card

  Book, Gun, Next Week

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• I like to get paid for doing basic research, so it's pleasant to write some nonfiction about it.

  Bruce Sterling

  Writing, Research, Fiction And Nonfiction

  "Inside the Military-Entertainment Complex". Interview with Krystian Woznicki, www.heise.de. June 16, 2002.

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• I like nonfiction books about people with wretched lives.

  David Sedaris

  Book, People, Fiction And Nonfiction

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• I enjoy doing the research of nonfiction; that gives me some pleasure, being a detective again.

  Joseph Wambaugh

  Giving, Research, Fiction And Nonfiction

  Interview with Ann Bruns, www.bookreporter.com. May 17, 2002.

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• I've written six novels and four pieces of nonfiction, so I don't really have a genre these days.

  Anne Lamott

  Pieces, Four, Six

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• Ironically, in today's marketplace successful nonfiction has to be unbelievable, while successful fiction must be believable.

  Jerry B. Jenkins

  Successful, Fiction, Today

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• When I'm not writing, I read loads of fiction, but I've been writing quite constantly lately so I've been reading a lot of nonfiction - philosophy, religion, science, history, social or cultural studies.

  Irvine Welsh

  Philosophy, Reading, Writing

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