Some writers find that they don't know their themes until they've finished the first draft (I am one). They then rewrite with an eye toward balancing on that tightrope: not too contrived, not too rambling; does what I'm saying about… — Nancy Kress Copy Share Image
Characterization is not divorced from plot, not a coat of paint you slap on after the structure of events is already built. Rather characterization… — Nancy Kress Copy Share
Some writers find that they don't know their themes until they've finished the first draft (I am one). They then rewrite with an eye… — Nancy Kress Copy Share
Religious reverence for one's own job, even if the job is worth doing, is a sexual turnoff. — Nancy Kress Copy Share
What characters do must grow out of who they are, and who they are is, in turn, influenced by what you make happen to… — Nancy Kress Copy Share
In commercial fiction especially, everything in the story usually contributes directly to the plot The shorter the story, the truer this is — Nancy Kress Copy Share
“…Boredom [is] a moral failing, the mark of a mind insufficiently stocked to occupy itself.” — Nancy Kress Copy Share
Changers are characters who alter in significant ways as a result of the events of your story. They learn something or grow into better… — Nancy Kress Copy Share
Every paragraph should accomplish two goals: advance the story, and develop your characters as complex human beings. — Nancy Kress Copy Share
You think intelligence and grit can succeed by themselves, but I'm telling you that's a pretty illusion. — Nancy Kress Copy Share
There are two wrong reactions to a rejection slip: deciding it's a final judgment on your story and/or talent, and deciding it's no judgment… — Nancy Kress Copy Share
“Miri once told me that there were only four important questions you could ask about any human being: How does he fill up his… — Nancy Kress Copy Share
“Things got said, the kinds of embarrassing things that don't go away. Tempers ran high. My paternal grandfather's teak desk required a new panel,… — Nancy Kress Copy Share
“The strings in her mind grew flatter, calmer. The shapes in the hologrid had changed. She heard the man's words, and yet she didn't;… — Nancy Kress Copy Share
