Fiction may be said to be the caricature of history. Votes: 3
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonFiction means never letting the pure truth get in the way of a good story. Votes: 3
Nathaniel Robert WintersFiction is not imagination. It is what anticipates imagination by giving it the form of reality. Votes: 2
Jean BaudrillardI'm a magpie in my fiction, taking whatever looks shiny and curious to line the nest of my story. Votes: 2
Walter KirnI learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me. Votes: 2
Jonathan LethemThe doer is merely a fiction added to the deed ? the deed is everything. Votes: 0
Friedrich NietzscheTruth and fiction are so aptly mixed that all seems uniform and of a piece.
Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of RoscommonOne of the most subtle and powerful writers of dark fiction - a unique voice.
Michael Marshall SmithIt's kind of strange-- in fiction you get to tell lies and are applauded for it.
Robert James WallerGeoff Nelder inhabits Science Fiction the way other people inhabit their clothes.
Jon Courtenay GrimwoodSex, without society as its landscape, has never been of much interest to fiction.
Elizabeth HardwickGitha Hariharan's fiction is wonderful-full of subtleties and humor and tenderness.
Michael OndaatjeScience fiction is about what could be but isn't; fantasy is about what couldn't be.
Orson Scott CardI enjoy women's conversation, and I think that helps me to describe them in fiction.
Alexander McCall SmithFiction is ideally suited to re-creating the important emotional aspects of history.
Alix Kates ShulmanI would never never read a work of fiction and want to know about the person's life.
Jamaica KincaidFantasy deals with the immeasurable while science-fiction deals with the measurable.
Walter WangerinAny author of fiction will tell you that characters don't need to be told what to do.
Alexander McCall Smithwriting fiction is the best thing there is because absolutely everything is possible!
Mario Vargas LlosaI don't read an awful lot of fiction and when I do, it tends to be lightweight stuff.
Terry Pratchettfiction is founded on truth....unless things did happen,people couldn't think of them.
Agatha ChristieEquality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.
B. R. AmbedkarI've loved science fiction my whole life. But I've never made a science fiction movie.
Don HertzfeldtI think that fiction has a part to play in urging us, as a species, toward compassion,
George SaundersYou can't be a serious writer of fiction unless you believe the story you are telling.
Norman MailerI'm much more drawn to fiction, to short stories, and to plays, than I am to diarists.
Regina Spektor'Breaking Bad.' Because it's the best American narrative fiction of the last ten years.
David BenioffFantasy is the oldest form of literature and science fiction is just a new twist on it.
Katharine KerrI was clasified as a 'Science Fiction' writer simply because I wrote about Schenectady.
Kurt VonnegutIt's much harder when you're writing about your life, than when you're writing fiction.
Leigh NewmanOne of the things [fiction] does is lead you to recognize what you did not know before.
Ursula K. Le GuinFiction either moves mountains or it's boring; it moves mountains or it sits on its ass.
David FosterI think I'm out of crime fiction now, and I think the dividing line is American Tabloid.
James EllroyI read a ton of fiction - historical, contemporary, literary, commercial, I love it all.
Megan ChanceThe God of the Old testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction...
Richard DawkinsI really like stories, so in a way it doesn't matter for me if they are real or fiction.
Volker BertelmannSometimes fiction is more easily understood than true events. Reality is often pathetic.
Young-Ha KimIn non-fiction you have to stay true to historical events, be they personal or national .
Andrew LamI'm defending fiction as a human capacity more than as a popular or dying literary genre.
Ben LernerI just think that fiction that isn't exploring what it means to be human today isn't art.
David Foster WallaceFiction stretches our sensibilities and our understanding, as mere information never can.
Fay WeldonI've reached the point where tedium is a person, the incarnate fiction of my own company.
Fernando Pessoafiction and lies are both works of creative art, and creation always reveals the creator.
Helen McCloyThe trouble with writing fiction is that it has to make sense, whereas real life doesn't.
Iain BanksFiction is the only way I know a human being can inhabit the mind of another human being.
Jhumpa LahiriThe primary subject of fiction is and has always been human emotion, values, and beliefs.
John GardnerKey to all fiction, long or short, is to remember that the wolfman did not want the moon.
Ron CarlsonI was hardly fit for human society. Thus destiny shaped me to be a science fiction writer.
Brian AldissFiction, on the whole, and if it is any good, tends to be a subversive element in society.
Fay WeldonI've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction.
Ian MckellenI love writing fiction - you can take just what you want from a place, and leave the rest.
Kate GrenvilleI think biography can be more personal than fiction, and certainly can be more expressive.
Peter AckroydI define science fiction as the art of the possible. Fantasy is the art of the impossible.
Ray BradburyFiction is harder for me than nonfiction - more gratifying, as a result, when it succeeds.
Rick BassIf life's lessons could be reduced to single sentences, ther would be no need for fiction.
Scott TurowThere may always be another reality to make fiction of the truth we think we've arrived at.
Christopher FryFiction is one of the few experiences where loneliness can be both confronted and relieved.
David Foster WallaceThe most visceral science fiction always takes place in the past and focuses on the humdrum
Dean CavanaghFiction happens in the womb. It doesn't get processed in the mind until you do the editing.
Isabel AllendePart fact part fiction is what life is. And it is always a cover story. I wrote my way out.
Jeanette WintersonIf you think about it, fiction is nothing more than gossip about the people you've made up.
John DufresneAfter I'd been a lawyer for about five or six years, I started playing around with fiction.
John GrishamWhen you are writing fiction your task is to reflect the fullest complications of the world
Julian BarnesDoes it strike you, Mr. Keller, that we live every day in the science fiction of our youth?
Robert Charles WilsonEvery photo is almost a fiction or a dream. If it's really good, it's another form of life.
Sylvia PlachyTo be honest, Im not that much of a reader of Korean fiction, since so little is translated.
Chang-Rae LeeApparently Iâve been typecast in science fiction: Iâm a Russian bisexual telepathic Jew.
Claudia ChristianIt is good fiction, so largely ignored now, that brings us so much closer to the real facts.
J. B. PriestleyI think the great unspoken theme in noir fiction is male self-pity. It pervades noir movies.
James EllroyAs a kid, I didn't read a great deal of fiction, and I've forgotten most of what I did read.
Mark HaddonI'm sure there's an alternate universe where I got to become a pulpy science fiction writer.
Neil GaimanMany fiction writers eventually want to feel that their work forms a single, unified entity.
Peter StraubFantasies are things that can't happen, and science fiction is about things that can happen.
Ray BradburyA science fiction writer should try to combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic.
Robert J. SawyerYou have to write fiction that mirrors the actual world, which has people of all sorts in it.
Alice MattisonI believe the word "perfection" should be changed to "pure fiction" - it's just not possible!
Arielle FordI'm a novelist. I think fiction is important or I wouldn't be doing it, but most of it's bad.
Dale Peck... the main concern of the fiction writer is with mystery as it is incarnated in human life.
Flannery O'ConnorI would be more frightened as a writer if people thought my movies were like science fiction.
Neil LaButeSometimes the song isn't strong enough to contain the fiction, because memories are fictions.
Nick CaveThe reader can't take much for granted in a fiction where the scenery can eat the characters.
Ursula K. Le GuinIt seems that fiction no longer produces work that makes one feel the human condition deeply.
Vivian GornickTo me, it's science fiction for me to do the things I've been blessed to do in this industry.
Will SmithA fiction writer is never entirely alone. Her characters are constantly whispering in her ear.
Cinda Williams ChimaPeople as me how I do research for my science fiction. The answer is, I never do any research.
Frederik PohlIn all fiction, when a man is faced with alternatives he chooses one at the expense of others.
Jorge Luis BorgesThere's a fine line between fiction and non-fiction and I think I snorted it somewhere in 1979
Kinky FriedmanThose who say truth is stranger than fiction have wasted their time on poorly written fiction.
Mark TwainI have to say that writing about my writing process is more daunting than writing non-fiction.
Sefi AttaPeople who write fiction, if they had not taken it up, might have become very successful liars.
Ernest HemingwayNo more fiction, for now we calculate; but that we may calculate, we had to make fiction first.
Friedrich NietzscheDid you ever see a giraffe? It is like something from between the regions of truth and fiction.
Geraldine JewsburyI think there's nothing more wonderful than using fiction to reflect real-world cultural ideas.
Jesse EisenbergA writer's job is to imagine everything so personally that the fiction is as vivid as memories.
John IrvingNothing on earth in fiction is less interesting than characters under the influence of alcohol.
John L'HeureuxIn some ways, I think it's the closest that we come to the truth â is in the form of fiction.
Laila LalamiOnce confined to fantasy and science fiction, time travel is now simply an engineering problem.
Michio KakuMen read science fiction to build the future. Women don't need to read it. They are the future.
Ray BradburyThe more fiction you read and write, the more you'll find your paragraphs forming on their own.
Stephen KingI've written fiction for as long as I can remember; it's always been my preferred form of play.
Taiye SelasiNinety percent of SF [science fiction] is crud, but then, ninety percent of everything is crud.
Theodore SturgeonQuantum fiction is any story that witnesses life and the human experience on a subatomic level.
Vanna BontaIt's not the word made flesh we want in writing, in poetry and fiction, but the flesh made word
William H. GassEmotional truths can sometimes be conveyed more effectively, more compellingly, through fiction.
Diana OssanaTime is, as you are probably aware, merely a convenient fiction. There is no such thing as time.
E. NesbitThe function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.
Frank HerbertAt the heart of all good fiction and at the heart of all good gossip is the same thing: trouble.
John DufresneI love reading fiction about people who are connecting intellectually. I find that exhilarating.
Lily KingI am not a science fiction writer. I am a fantasy writer. But the label got put on me and stuck.
Ray BradburyI love the opportunity to just let my imagination run riot! Non-fiction can be very restrictive.
Raymond BucklandWars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.
Ulysses S. GrantAt least I hope - that the fiction I've written so far has flaws but has mostly been successful.
William T. VollmannYou write fiction, you're writing memoir, and when you're writing memoir, you're writing fiction.
Elizabeth GilbertDon't make a big distinction between fiction and non-fiction. These are arbitrary distinctions...
Farley MowatI have a wonderful editor who believes in fiction and poetry. She herself is a novelist and poet.
Frederick BuschI've always been a science fiction fan since I had understood the conception of what a story was.
J. Michael StraczynskiI grew up obsessed with science fiction, and when I was really young, I wanted to be a scientist.
MobyA writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction.
William FaulknerI think that one of the compelling themes of fiction is this confrontation between good and evil.
William StyronI think one of the big challenges about science fiction is finding truth to relate to as an actor.
Amanda SchullWouldn't it be kinder to say that a lie is a short work of fiction? 'A story' as my daughter says?
Helen McCloyI think that it's more likely that in my 60s and 70s I will be writing poetry rather than fiction.
Robert MorganScience fiction is really a rather tiny business compared with its giant cousin, which is fantasy.
Robert ReedThe story you are about to read is a work of fiction. Nothing - and everything - about it is real.
Todd StrasserI tend to really enjoy being swept up in fiction. I love a good story and I admire fiction authors.
Augusten BurroughsI just think the whole disease model of addiction is crap. It's rooted in fiction and junk science.
Charlie SheenWith science fiction I think we are preparing ourselves for contact with them, whoever they may be.
Dwight Schultzwithout fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.
Elizabeth BowenThe best part of the fiction in many novels is the notice that the characters are purely imaginary.
Franklin P. AdamsFiction wouldn't be much fun without its fair share of scoundrels, and they have to live somewhere.
Jasper FfordeThe first seven years that I wrote fiction, I sent out stories and a novel and made a total of $25.
Jess WalterArchaeology is the anthropology of the past, and science fiction is the anthropology of the future.
Joan D. VingeThere is no such thing as a normal period of history. Normality is a fiction of economic textbooks.
Joan RobinsonTopiary has always seemed like a good occupation, comparable in some ways to writing short fiction.
Kelly LinkFiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.
Nadine GordimerIve lost much of my heart and the spark or fire that once created, or produced, the art of fiction.
Rick BassThe magic of fiction seems to be the more specific you are, the more universal you end up becoming.
Shyam SelvaduraiA fascinating book and a great pleasure to read: Betool Khedairi is a talented new voice in fiction.
Alaa Al AswanyNo one ever got into science fiction for the sex or prestige. They got into it because they love it.
China MievilleI think it's hard to write a book about happiness because fiction requires tension and complication.
Edwidge DanticatThat's why we read fiction, isn't it? To remind us that whatever we suffer, we're not the only ones?
Jodi PicoultThere are so many stories to tell in the worlds of science fiction, the worlds of fantasy and horror that to confine yourself to even doing historical revisionist fiction, whatever you want to call it - mash-ups, gimmick lit, absurdist fiction - I don't know if I want to do that anymore. Votes: 1 Seth Grahame-Smith
It's not just what Christian fiction lacks I appreciate - it's what it offers. The variety is vast: contemporary, historical, suspense, mysteries, adventure, young adult, romance, fantasy, science fiction. Votes: 1 Randy Alcorn
I never really wanted to be a writer. I know it sounds strange, but I honestly believe that I didn't pick the story; the story has picked me. I've written absolutely no fiction before 'The Immortals of Meluha.' Not even a short story in school - absolutely nothing. Votes: 1 Amish Tripathi
I want to see Christian fiction speak to the hard and real issues that tear people's lives apart. Votes: 2 Francine Rivers
People who are readers of fiction aren't particularly interested in comic books. Votes: 1 Harvey Pekar
I'm always interested in contemporary fiction. Votes: 4 Kenneth Branagh
I've always had a great fondness for English detective fiction such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. Votes: 3 Kazuo Ishiguro
Divergent' was my utopian world. I mean, that wasn't the plan. I never even set out to write dystopian fiction, that's just what I had when I was finished. At the beginning, I was just writing about a place I found interesting and a character with a compelling story, and as I began to build the world, I realized that it was my utopia. Votes: 6 Veronica Roth
To me experimental fiction ultimately is about the experiment and I'm not interested in experiments for their own sake. Votes: 3 Steve Erickson
In writing biography, fact and fiction shouldn't be mixed. And if they are, the fictional points should be printed in red ink, the facts printed in black ink. Votes: 6 Catherine Drinker Bowen
The difference between fiction and nonfiction is that fiction must be absolutely believable. Votes: 3 Mark Twain
There's always been a little bit of tension between the writers of science fiction literature and then science-fiction televised shows or movies, partly because they have a different dynamic. Votes: 4 John Scalzi
I was someone who really loved fantasy novels and science fiction novels. Votes: 4 Matthew Tobin Anderson
I started in this racket in the early '70s, and when I was president of the Science Fiction Writers of America, of which I was like the sixth president, I was the first one nobody ever heard of. Votes: 3 Jerry Pournelle
I started in this racket in the early '70s, and when I was president of the Science Fiction Writers of America, of which I was like the sixth president, I was the first one nobody ever heard of. Votes: 3 Jerry Pournelle
Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything. Votes: 4 Ivana Trump
I'm not a 'long writer' and have never wanted to write a novel or even a novella. Poetry, like flash fiction, provides a readily accessible canvas to play with. Whether to express an emotion or share a vignette, these forms are often interchangeable. Votes: 3 Marge Simon
I could write historical fiction, or science fiction, or a mystery but since I find it fascinating to research the clues of some little know period and develop a story based on that, I will probably continue to do it. Votes: 4 Jean M. Auel
I've been typed as historical fiction, historical women's fiction, historical mystery, historical chick lit, historical romance - all for the same book. Votes: 1 Lauren Willig
I'm a fan of short horror fiction... in fact, the most memorable horror I've read is of the short variety... but I have a hard time pulling it off myself. Votes: 4 George Stephen
There's an explosion of Indian fiction of all kinds, from military thrillers to chicklit. I think that's exciting. Votes: 1 Hari Kunzru
I often imagine that the longer he studies English literature the more the Japanese student must be astonished at the extraordinary predominance given to the passion of love both in fiction and in poetry. Votes: 1 Lafcadio Hearn
I think suspense should be like any other color on a writer's palette. I suppose I'm in the minority but I think it's crazy for 'literary fiction' to divorce itself from stories that are suspenseful, and assign anything with cops or spies or criminals to some genre ghetto. Votes: 2 Jess Walter
I hardly ever read mainstream fiction that deals with life as it is. I like an element of fantasy, something that isn`t quite of the real world. Votes: 3 Stephen King
Going back to the noir fiction of the 30s, 40s and 50s. It's very contemporary. Votes: 3 Jeff Goldblum
That was par for the course but I also found that commissions were being canceled and in fact I considered this directly libelous - I write biographies for a living as well as being a journalist - for a non fiction book to be called fiction from beginning to end. Votes: 3 Anthony Holden
Non-fiction books have helped me enormously with lots of my books. Votes: 1 Gillian Cross
The best way to tell people about climate change is through non-fiction. There's a vast literature of outstanding writing on the subject. Votes: 1 Ian Mcewan
I am conscious of trying to stretch the boundaries of non-fiction writing. It's always surprised me how little attention many non-fiction writers pay to the formal aspects of their work. Votes: 2 Alain de Botton
I've been a fan of vampire fiction since way, way back - I loved Stephen King, Anne Rice, Peter Straub, Robert McCammon, Shirley Jackson, lots of great horror and paranormal fiction. Votes: 3 Rachel Caine
'Pulp Fiction' was probably one of the first films I ever saw that really kind of took effect on me. I was about four years old - obviously wasn't supposed to be seeing that film; my sister kind of sneaked it out and we got to see it. She's older than me. That was something I always used to watch. Votes: 3 Aaron Johnson
Writing and reading fiction is, I think, a human effort to make sense of the world. Votes: 5 Robin Hobb
I began reading science fiction before I was 12 and started writing science fiction around the same time. Votes: 4 Octavia Butler
I enjoy receiving and giving realistic fiction, for both children and adults, with strong characters, beautiful language, and humane visions. Votes: 4 Sharon Creech
I don't really believe that documentary is objective reality and fiction is all illusion. Votes: 4 Mike Mills
At one time in my career, Barnes and Noble bookstores categorized my books as religious fiction. Votes: 3 Richard Paul Evans
Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible. Votes: 6 Rod Serling
I'm a science fiction and fantasy geek. Votes: 4 China Mieville
It is simply science fiction fantasy to say that, if you do not raise the debt ceiling, that everything is going to collapse. Votes: 3 Mike Lee
I think the type of actor I am, I tend to play strong leading female characters. The shows I've been on happen to be science fiction genre. Votes: 4 Alaina Huffman
I'm a sci-fi girl. If I can have anything in life, I'd want tons of great science-fiction movies and stories. It's so progressive, beautiful, and imaginative. Votes: 5 Zoe Saldana
I was someone who really loved fantasy novels and science fiction novels. Votes: 4 Matthew Tobin Anderson
I started in this racket in the early '70s, and when I was president of the Science Fiction Writers of America, of which I was like the sixth president, I was the first one nobody ever heard of. Votes: 4 Jerry Pournelle
The concept of the robot encapsulates both aspects of technology. On one hand it's cool, it's fun, it's healthy, it's sexy, it's stylish. On the other hand it's terrifying, it's alienating, it's addictive, and it's scary. That has been the subject of much science-fiction literature. Votes: 2 Thomas Bangalter
I love contemporary North American fiction and short fiction. My favorite writer is Jonathan Franzen, and my favorite writers of short fiction are George Saunders and Alice Munro. Votes: 3 Emily Perkins
Maybe the example of Southern fiction writing has been so powerful that Southern poets have sort of keyed themselves to that. Votes: 1 Robert Morgan
For truth is always strange; stranger than fiction. Votes: 8 Lord Byron
I actually love writing for teens best. I had such an awful time in my own teen years - I love having the chance to relive them through my fiction. Votes: 1 Meg Cabot
Did you ever see a giraffe? It is like something from between the regions of truth and fiction. Votes: 3 Geraldine Jewsbury
That's why I write fiction, because I want to write these stories that people will read and find universal. Votes: 1 Jesmyn Ward
I grew up with that completely fictive idea of motherhood, where the mother never strayed from the kitchen. All the women in my books are very afraid that if they do anything with their minds they won't be complete women. I don't think my daughters' generation has that feeling. Votes: 1 A. S. Byatt
I was writing fiction, but not finishing fiction. Votes: 4 Elizabeth Moon
I began reading science fiction before I was 12 and started writing science fiction around the same time. Votes: 4 Octavia Butler
As someone who writes and teaches YA fiction, I spend a lot of time trying to define its character and readership, and I don't think I'm alone - genres are all about boundary drawing, and the YA genre is, in a lot of ways, about carving out boundaries around adolescence, a space for teenagers to do teenage things. Votes: 1 Robin Wasserman