--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Write whatever way you like. Fiction is…" description: "\"Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn't matter how \"real\" your story is, or how ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04d/anne-enright-5402_fiction_write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-m_2424086.jpg" --- # Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a… ![“Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn't matter how "real" your story is, or how "made up": what matters is its necessity.” quote by Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04d/anne-enright-5402_fiction_write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-m_2424086.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04d/anne-enright-5402_fiction_write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-m_2424086.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04d/anne-enright-5402_fiction_write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-m_2424086.jpg) > “Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn't matter how "real" your story is, or how "made up": what matters is its necessity.” [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The value of a story lies in its necessity, not its factual accuracy; fiction and reality serve different purposes. **In simple terms:** Story’s worth is its purpose, not realism. Key Takeaway Focus on why a story matters. Themes fiction reality necessity purpose Mood analytical thoughtful Type literary educational When to use this quote - creative writing workshops - storytelling - media analysis Key Concepts narrative theory literary criticism truth vs. fiction Questions to Reflect On - What makes a story essential to you? - When should a story prioritize truth over impact? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on realism can stifle imagination. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Sometimes I read a script and it's obvious from early on that it's one where the suspension of disbelief has to develop strongly from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gillian-anderson/sometimes-i-read-a-script-and-it-s-obvious-from-early-on-that-it-s/) [Gillian Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gillian-anderson/) > [“At some point you have to choose between life and fiction." The Words”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-words/at-some-point-you-have-to-choose-between-life-and-fiction-the-words/) The Words > [“Doesn't every previous era feel like fiction once it's gone?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/doesn-t-every-previous-era-feel-like-fiction-once-it-s-gone/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [I read certain things about history. I don't like fiction. I read about stuff that's real, stuff that's goin' on in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prodigy/i-read-certain-things-about-history-i-don-t-like-fiction-i-read-about/) [Prodigy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prodigy/) > [I was in my senior year of high school when I read 'Notes From Underground' by Dostoyevsky, and it was an exhilarating discovery. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-messud/i-was-in-my-senior-year-of-high-school-when-i-read-notes-from/) [Claire Messud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-messud/) > [I think part of what I like about being a fiction writer is that I can inhabit something that's beyond the limits of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-offill/i-think-part-of-what-i-like-about-being-a-fiction-writer-is-that-i/) [Jenny Offill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-offill/) > [Several members of my family have, or have had, one form of dementia or another. I really wanted to explore what it might like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-healey/several-members-of-my-family-have-or-have-had-one-form-of-dementia-or/) [Emma Healey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-healey/) > [I like books steeped in the quotidian - details about work and place. You can learn how to run a chicken-and-waffle restaurant by reading…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-lippman/i-like-books-steeped-in-the-quotidian-details-about-work-and-place/) [Laura Lippman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-lippman/) > [“I do believe that you can never know yourself let alone the person next to you let alone the person halfway across the world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nam-le/i-do-believe-that-you-can-never-know-yourself-let-alone-the-person/) [Nam Le](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nam-le/) > [I think one of the reasons that I like fiction versus nonfiction is that I myself can kind of disappear from the story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/celeste-ng/i-think-one-of-the-reasons-that-i-like-fiction-versus-nonfiction-is/) [Celeste Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/celeste-ng/) > [“Write non-fiction like fiction, so the reader is constantly turning the page to find out what happens next, and write fiction like non-fiction, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-robinson/write-non-fiction-like-fiction-so-the-reader-is-constantly-turning/) [Jeffrey Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-robinson/) > [“Memory is like fiction; or else it's fiction that's like memory. This really came home to me once I started writing fiction, that memory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/memory-is-like-fiction-or-else-it-s-fiction-that-s-like-memory-this-2/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“Science Fiction properly conceived, like all serious fiction, however funny, is a way of trying to describe what is going on, what people actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/science-fiction-properly-conceived-like-all-serious-fiction-however/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kubrick/a-film-is-or-should-be-more-like-music-than-like-fiction-it-should-be/) [Stanley Kubrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kubrick/) > [Memory is like fiction; or else it's fiction that's like memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/memory-is-like-fiction-or-else-it-s-fiction-that-s-like-memory/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) ## More by Anne Enright > [Story is about pulling the reader in and a plot is a more externalized mechanism of revelation. A plot is more antic, more performative,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/story-is-about-pulling-the-reader-in-and-a-plot-is-a-more/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [I am interested in levels of brain discourse. How articulate are the voices in your head? You know, there's a different voice for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/i-am-interested-in-levels-of-brain-discourse-how-articulate-are-the/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [I have a small room to write in. One wall is completely covered in books. And I face the window with the curtain closed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/i-have-a-small-room-to-write-in-one-wall-is-completely-covered-in/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [I do not think we remember our family in any real sense. We live in them instead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/i-do-not-think-we-remember-our-family-in-any-real-sense-we-live-in/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [I do not believe in evil- I believe that we are human and fallible, that we things and spoil them in an ordinary way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/i-do-not-believe-in-evil-i-believe-that-we-are-human-and-fallible/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [“Val is a bachelor farmer in his seventies, so he should, by rights, be half mad.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/val-is-a-bachelor-farmer-in-his-seventies-so-he-should-by-rights-be/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [Sometimes I will spend two or three days not speaking to anyone outside of the immediate family when they come home, and then I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/sometimes-i-will-spend-two-or-three-days-not-speaking-to-anyone/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [God, I hate my family, these people I never chose to love, but love all the same.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/god-i-hate-my-family-these-people-i-never-chose-to-love-but-love-all/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [I find being Irish quite a wearing thing. It takes so much work because it is a social construction. People think you are going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/i-find-being-irish-quite-a-wearing-thing-it-takes-so-much-work/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [Writing is not my problem, it is my solution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/writing-is-not-my-problem-it-is-my-solution/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [The writing day can be, in some ways, too short, but it's actually a long series of hours, for months at a time, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/the-writing-day-can-be-in-some-ways-too-short-but-it-s-actually-a/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [People do not change, they are merely revealed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/people-do-not-change-they-are-merely-revealed/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [My kids are supposed to live till they are one hundred. You don't have to have a perfect house or a perfect relationship with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/my-kids-are-supposed-to-live-till-they-are-one-hundred-you-don-t-have/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [Cats, I always think, only jump into your lap to check if you are cold enough, yet, to eat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/cats-i-always-think-only-jump-into-your-lap-to-check-if-you-are-cold/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [Description is hard. Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/description-is-hard-remember-that-all-description-is-an-opinion-about/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) [Explore all 101 Anne Enright quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) ## More Fiction quotes > [“…progress isn't necessarily about change but about things turning out as we want them to”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hogan/progress-isn-t-necessarily-about-change-but-about-things-turning-out/) Phil Hogan > [The thing about science fiction is that it's totally wide open. But it's wide open in a conditional way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-butler/the-thing-about-science-fiction-is-that-it-s-totally-wide-open-but-it/) [Octavia Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-butler/) > [I do think that theater is a great venue for science fiction, and not just adaptations but also original work. I also think some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-einhorn/i-do-think-that-theater-is-a-great-venue-for-science-fiction-and-not/) Edward Einhorn > [Fiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/fiction-is-a-way-of-exploring-possibilities-present-but-undreamt-of/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [I love writing fiction and can do it anywhere - I once even missed a flight because I was so engrossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prue-leith/i-love-writing-fiction-and-can-do-it-anywhere-i-once-even-missed-a/) [Prue Leith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prue-leith/) > [“The fiction will seek the real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coheed-and-cambria/the-fiction-will-seek-the-real/) Coheed and Cambria > [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/the-danger-that-may-really-threaten-crime-fiction-is-that-soon-there/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [There's always that discussion about fiction about how do you market it - these are books for boys, these are books for girls, these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-a-weatherly/there-s-always-that-discussion-about-fiction-about-how-do-you-market/) [L.A. Weatherly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-a-weatherly/) > [Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trudi-canavan/inspiration-comes-from-so-many-sources-music-other-fiction-the-non/) [Trudi Canavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trudi-canavan/) > [I'm not interested in making a diagnostic novel or a concern. I'm 100 percent committed in fiction to the pleasure principle - that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/i-m-not-interested-in-making-a-diagnostic-novel-or-a-concern-i-m-100/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [“His hands on my waist he gently pulled me n embrace. I could feel his breath on my face our lips were about to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-eglinger/his-hands-on-my-waist-he-gently-pulled-me-n-embrace-i-could-feel-his/) [Nicole Eglinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-eglinger/) > [In early drafts, one of the trickiest things for me to do was to realize that the techniques and devices that make readable and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-rooney/in-early-drafts-one-of-the-trickiest-things-for-me-to-do-was-to/) [Kathleen Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-rooney/) > [I don't think it's always a sign of respect for persons (inside or outside of fiction) to pretend to be able to represent, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-lerner/i-don-t-think-it-s-always-a-sign-of-respect-for-persons-inside-or/) [Ben Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-lerner/) > [Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) [Browse all 7,410 Fiction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn't matter how \"real\" your story is, or how \"made up\": what matters is its necessity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anne Enright" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-made-of-words-on-a-page/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fiction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-made-of-words-on-a-page/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04d/anne-enright-5402_fiction_write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-m_2424086.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04d/anne-enright-5402_fiction_write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-m_2424086.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04d/anne-enright-5402_fiction_write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-m_2424086.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It…” — Anne Enright", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Anne Enright", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Write whatever way you like. Fiction...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-made-of-words-on-a-page/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/write-whatever-way-you-like-fiction-is-made-of-words-on-a-page/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```