Nancy Kress Quotes

An attempt to write nothing but characterization will soon bog down; I for one don't want to have somebody tell me about someone else.

I'm not very good at story. In fact, compared to character and language, I barely care about story at all.

But I'm a fairly mechanical worker - I tend not to think about themes so much as plot. I want to get the feeling right. If it's moving through tunnels, I ask myself, what is it like to move through tunnels?

Language description and metaphors seem readily available. The things I have to work harder at are plot, pacing, and form.

In fiction, you learn about pacing and how to build tension - which is something you want in a really good nonfiction feature article as well.

With thrillers, I tend to concentrate on the research and pace more than the characters.

I'm not interested in story lines or trash-talk.

A stage play is basically a form of uber-schizophrenia. You split yourself into two minds - one being the protagonist and the other being the antagonist. The playwright also splits himself into two other minds: the mind of the writer and the mind of the audience.

In a novel you have to resist the urge to tell everything.

I believe that the writer should tell a story. I believe in plot. I believe in creating characters and suspense.

It took me years to learn that sentences in fiction must do much more than stand around and look pretty.

Good stories are driven by conflict, tension, and high stakes.

It's easy to write a short story and frighten people for five pages, but to work at length, when you do it as in 'The Turn Of The Screw' or 'A Christmas Carol,' it's different; you have to build it and build it.

If the characters are acting true to themselves, then that chemistry and suspense will flow.

Listen to great storytellers; slowly, you will learn about voice, timing, tension, structure, climax - all the things you need to tell stories that will capture the imagination of your audience.

I spent ages figuring out things like viewpoint, how you tell the story, and so on.

I believe in plot, in development of character, in the effect of the passage of time, in a good story - better than something you might find in the newspaper. And I believe a novel should be as complicated and involved as you're capable of making it.

A good short-story writer has an instinct for sketching in just enough background to ground the specific story.

I don't really look for a script and go, 'I need to do a thriller, so I'm going to do this.' I just read scripts and look for the best possible story.

Even if your novel occurs in an unfamiliar setting in which all the customs and surroundings will seem strange to your reader, it's still better to start with action. The reason for this is simple. If the reader wanted an explanation of milieu, he would read nonfiction. He doesn't want information. He wants a story.

The mark of a writer is to make a story as likely as possible, and I've done my best to deliver authentic atmosphere.

What makes a story is how well it manages to connect with the reader, the visceral effect it has.

I try to tell a story the way someone would tell you a story in a bar, with the same kind of timing and pacing.

I like snappy dialogue and short descriptions and lots of action.

I like thrillers a lot. There's a lot of discipline connected to them. You can't be as freewheeling as you are with character pieces.