20 Nancy Kress Quotes for You to Enjoy

Nancy Kress

American Writer

Born: Jan 20, 1948

Character Characters Will Words You Your

Related authors: Dale Carnegie Denis Waitley Dr. Seuss H. L. Mencken Napoleon Hill Ray Bradbury W. E. B. Du Bois William Arthur Ward

Without coffee, nothing gets written. Period. Nancy Kress

Coffee Nothing Written Period Without Gets

Before the scene, before the paragraph, even before the sentence, comes the word. Individual words and phrases are the building blocks of fiction, the genes that generate everything else. Use the right words, and your fiction can blossom. The French have a phrase for it - le mot juste - the exact right word in the exact right position. Nancy Kress

Words Word Building Before Else Everything Everything Else Right Word Right Words Paragraph Exact Phrase Phrases Scene Individual Generate Genes French Building Blocks Blocks Blossom Fiction Sentence Use Your Even Right Position

The truth is, you have about three paragraphs in a short story, three pages in a novel, to capture that editor's attention enough for her to finish your story. Nancy Kress

Truth You Truth Is Three Enough Paragraphs About Finish Attention Editor Short Short Story Story Pages Your Novel Capture Her

Every story makes a promise to the reader. Actually, two promises, one emotional and one intellectual, since the function of stories is to make us both feel and think. Nancy Kress

Promises Every Think Promise Both Emotional Feel Since Make Reader Makes Intellectual Stories Story Us Function Actually Two

If you're writing a thriller, mystery, Western or adventure-driven book, you'd better keep things moving rapidly for the reader. Quick pacing is vital in certain genres. It hooks readers, creates tension, deepens the drama, and speeds things along. Nancy Kress

You Book Writing Better Drama Speeds Hooks Rapidly Vital Thriller Mystery Tension Along Genres Reader Readers Western Quick Pacing Moving Creates Certain Keep Things

The most-asked question when someone describes a novel, movie or short story to a friend probably is, 'How does it end?' Endings carry tremendous weight with readers; if they don't like the ending, chances are they'll say they didn't like the work. Failed endings are also the most common problems editors have with submitted works. Nancy Kress

Work Ending Problems Tremendous Say Carry Someone Weight Failed Like Most Also Readers Does How Editors Question Friend End Submitted Endings Short Common Movie Short Story Story Works Novel Chances

A brief short story may require only a few paragraphs after the climax. On the other hand, in his massive novel 'The World According to Garp,' John Irving's denouement consisted of 10 separate sections, each devoted to an individual character's fate and each almost a story in itself. Nancy Kress

Character World Fate Few Other Sections Paragraphs John Only Individual Almost Massive Devoted Climax His Hand According Itself May Short After Short Story Story Require Separate Novel Each Brief

A true epilogue is removed from the story in time or space. That's the reason it is called an 'Epilogue'; the label serves to alert the reader that the story itself is over, but we are going to now see a distant result or consequence of that story. Nancy Kress

Time Result Space Distant See True Over Reader Label Itself Going Story Reason Now Serve Consequence Alert

Every drama requires a cast. The cast may be so huge, as in Leo Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina,' that the author or editor provides a list of characters to keep them straight. Or it may be an intimate cast of two. Nancy Kress

Every Drama Intimate Characters Cast Anna Editor Provides Huge Author List May Straight Them Leo Requires Tolstoy Keep Two

You do not have to dramatize everything. In fact, you usually can't, not without ending up with a half-million-word novel. Nancy Kress

You Ending Everything Fact Without Up In Fact Novel

In general, fiction is divided into 'literary fiction' and 'commercial fiction.' Nobody can definitively say what separates one from the other, but that doesn't stop everybody (including me) from trying. Your book probably will be perceived as one or the other, and that will affect how it is read, packaged and marketed. Nancy Kress

Me Book Will Other Everybody Say Perceived General Divided Nobody Read How Affect Commercial Trying Stop Fiction Literary Literary Fiction Packaged Separates Your Including

For commercial books in a genre, readers' and editors' expectations may be fairly rigid. Some romance lines, for instance, issue fairly detailed writers' guidelines explaining exactly what must happen in a book they publish (and what must not). Nancy Kress

Book Publish Books Guidelines Rigid Must Detailed Exactly Exactly What Some Writers Instance Genre Fairly Readers Editors Issue Lines Commercial Expectations May Romance Happen Explaining

Words that add no new information or aren't repeated for emphasis are just padding. A sentence may carry three or five or eight of them, each one as unnoticeable as an extra two ounces on your hips but collectively adding up to a large burden of fat. Nancy Kress

Words Burden Three Extra Add Adding Carry Collectively Emphasis New New Information Hips Repeated Up Five May Just Eight Information Them Sentence Your Large Each Each One Fat Two

In fiction, a reaction shot is a brief portrayal of how your character reacts to something that someone else has done. In contrast to more direct character building, your guy doesn't initiate the sequence; he completes it. Exactly how he completes it can tell readers a lot about him. Nancy Kress

Character Building Else Tell Exactly About Direct Someone Something Guy More He Reaction Him Readers How Lot Contrast Done Fiction Shot Your Sequence Initiate Brief Portrayal

Overpopulated fiction can be so confusing that readers put the story down. Under-populated novels can seem claustrophobic or boring. You want the right number of characters for your particular work. Nancy Kress

Work You Down Characters Boring Seem Claustrophobic Put Particular Readers Want Fiction Story Confusing Your Novels Right Number

Novels have much more space than short stories, which gives you more leeway with the number of characters you can include. Even 'furniture' characters can be described and given speaking parts to develop background or atmosphere. Nancy Kress

You Space Background Furniture Characters Atmosphere Given More Gives Develop Parts Leeway Than Short Stories Short Stories Which Much Speaking Even Include Novels Number

Many novice writers try to avoid using 'said' by substituting synonyms: 'he uttered,' 'she murmured,' 'he questioned.' It's true that any word repeated too often becomes monotonous, but substitutions for 'said' can be worse than its repetition. Nancy Kress

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