--- title: "1 Fiction Kind Quotes By Jo Walton" description: "1 Fiction Kind quotes by Jo Walton. Plus more from Jo Walton and more Fiction Kind sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/494/jo-walton-7623_different-ways_the-trouble-with-mimetic-fiction-isn-t-t_847348.jpg" --- > [“The trouble with mimetic fiction isn’t that you can tell what’s going to happen (I defy anyone to guess what’s going to happen in Middlemarch, even from halfway through) but that you can tell what’s not going to happen. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/the-trouble-with-mimetic-fiction-isn-t-that-you-can-tell-what-s-going/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/494/jo-walton-7623_different-ways_the-trouble-with-mimetic-fiction-isn-t-t_847348.jpg) ## More by Jo Walton > [I care more about the people in books than the people I see every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/i-care-more-about-the-people-in-books-than-the-people-i-see-every-day/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [Class is entirely intangible, and the way it affects things isn't subject to scientific analysis, and it's not supposed to be real but it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/class-is-entirely-intangible-and-the-way-it-affects-things-isn-t/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [“I figured it out this afternoon, when they let me take a walk around the grounds, that these cows are stupid. Bovine. I knew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/i-figured-it-out-this-afternoon-when-they-let-me-take-a-walk-around/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [“You can almost always find chains of coincidence to disprove magic. That's because it doesn't happen the way it does in books. It makes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/you-can-almost-always-find-chains-of-coincidence-to-disprove-magic/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [You can't do magic with books unless they're very special copies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/you-can-t-do-magic-with-books-unless-they-re-very-special-copies/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [Reading is awesome and flexible and fits around chores and earning money and building the future and whatever else I’m doing that day. My…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/reading-is-awesome-and-flexible-and-fits-around-chores-and-earning/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [You know, class is like magic. There's nothing there you can point to, it evaporates if you try to analyse it, but it's real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/you-know-class-is-like-magic-there-s-nothing-there-you-can-point-to/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [“The thing with dying, well, with death really, is that there's a difference between being someone who knows they can really die at any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/the-thing-with-dying-well-with-death-really-is-that-there-s-a/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [It's amazing how large the things are that it's possible to overlook.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/it-s-amazing-how-large-the-things-are-that-it-s-possible-to-overlook/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [“My ideal relationship with a book is that I will read it for the first time entirely unspoiled. I won’t know anything whatsoever about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/my-ideal-relationship-with-a-book-is-that-i-will-read-it-for-the/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [“Anyway, while most people can't see fairies anyway because they don't believe in them, seeing them isn't a bad thing. Some of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/anyway-while-most-people-can-t-see-fairies-anyway-because-they-don-t/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [“Aujourd’hui, rien. That’s what Louis XVI wrote in his diary on the day of the storming of the Bastille.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/aujourd-hui-rien-that-s-what-louis-xvi-wrote-in-his-diary-on-the-day/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [If the purpose of literature is to illuminate human nature, the purpose of fantastic literature is to do that from a wider perspective. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/if-the-purpose-of-literature-is-to-illuminate-human-nature-the/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [“There are two kinds of people in the world, those who re-read and those who don’t. No, don’t be silly, there are far more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/there-are-two-kinds-of-people-in-the-world-those-who-re-read-and/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [There may be stranger reasons for being alive. There are books There’s interlibrary loan. There are books you can fall into and pull up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/there-may-be-stranger-reasons-for-being-alive-there-are-books-there-s/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-kind/jo-walton/#itemlist", "name": "1 Fiction Kind Quotes By Jo Walton", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The trouble with mimetic fiction isn’t that you can tell what’s going to happen (I defy anyone to guess what’s going to happen in Middlemarch, even from halfway through) but that you can tell what’s not going to happen. There isn’t going to be an evil wizard. The world isn’t going to be destroyed in Cultural Fugue and leave the protagonist as the only survivor. There aren’t going to be any people who happen to have one mind shared between five bodies. There are unlikely to be shape-changers. In science fiction you can have any kind of story—a romance or a mystery or a reflection of human nature, or anything at all. But as well as that, you have infinite possibility. You can tell different stories about human nature when you can compare it to android nature, or alien nature. You can examine it in different ways when you can write about people living for two hundred years, or being relativistically separated, or under a curse. 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