It is good fiction, so largely ignored now, that brings us so much closer to the real facts.
THE THREE is really wonderful. A mix of Michael Crichton and Shirley Jackson, hard to put down and vastly entertaining.
It's experiences in life that give us something to write about, and since good fiction is applied tension, you'll have an arsenal of good material if life hasn't been peachy (and not a whole lot if it has).
It's hard to read good fiction when I am writing, because if it is really good I catch myself sort of inadvertently imitating a great writer.
Good fiction is about asserting the beauties of the world, inventing a new, positive thing. Where am I going to get that? And it should be original; it should not be cliched. So the way I looked at history was not to accuse it of failure.
The nature of good fiction is that it dwells in ambiguity.
Good fiction can both entertain and light up those dark corners where nice people don't want to go.
Conflict and character are the heart of good fiction, and good mystery has both of those in spades.
The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field.
Good fiction challenges us as much as it entertains and these days, we could do with both of these things.
In the best fiction, the language itself can become almost invisible.
Good fiction must be entertaining, but what makes fiction special - and True - is that the realness of a novel allows it to carry a larger message.
With fiction, it could be about anything. It just has to be good writing, like Maria Semple's "Where'd You Go, Bernadette," which I read recently. I want to forget I have a book in my hand.
I don't think there is enough respect in general for the time it takes to write consistently good fiction. Too many people think they will master writing overnight, or that they are as good as they will ever be.
