“Go ahead, scoff, he said, petulant. Except in the life of a hero, the whole world's meaningless. The hero sees values beyond… — John Gardner Heroes Copy Share Image
“Pick an apocalypse, any apocalypse. A sea of black oil and dead things. No wind. No light. Nothing stirring, not even an… — John Gardner Apocalypse Copy Share Image
“So, when I write a piece of fiction I select my characters and settings and so on because they have a bearing,… — John Gardner Philosophical Copy Share Image
“The conclusion suggests that he has used them rather than cared about them, much as a preacher uses old stories and straw… — John Gardner Wisdom Copy Share Image
“There seems little or no hope for the adult writer who produces sentences like these: "Her cheeks were thick and smooth and… — John Gardner Hope Copy Share Image
“It is the importance of this quality of generosity in fiction that requires a measure of childishness in the writer. People who… — John Gardner Childishness Copy Share Image
“Good writers may “tell” about almost anything in fiction except the characters’ feelings. One may tell the reader that the character went… — John Gardner Storytelling Copy Share Image
“Daemonic compulsiveness can kill as easily as it can save. The true novelist must be at once driven and indifferent. Van Gogh… — John Gardner Not giving up Copy Share Image
“The age old idea of human dignity comes to apply even to the indigent, even to the slaves, even to immigrants, now… — John Gardner Art Copy Share Image
“Fiction, like sculpture or painting, begins with a rough sketch. One gets down the characters and their behavior any way one can,… — john gardner First-draft Copy Share Image
“Nothing is sillier than the creative writing teacher's dictum "Write about what you know." But whether you're writing about people or dragons,… — John Gardner Creative writing Copy Share Image
“No fiction can have real interest if the central character is not an agent struggling for his or her own goals but… — John Gardner Failure Copy Share Image
“In any long fiction, Henry James remarked, use of the first-person point of view is barbaric. James may go too far, but… — John Gardner First person Copy Share Image
“Though we run across exceptions, philosophical novels where explanation holds interest, the temptation to explain is one that should almost always be… — John Gardner Communication Copy Share Image
“It was said in the old days that every year Thor made a circle around Middle-earth, beating back the enemies of order.… — John Gardner Chaos Copy Share Image
“In writing short stories—as in writing novels—take one thing at a time. (For some writers, this advice I'm giving may apply best… — John Gardner Short stories Copy Share Image
“From all we have said about plotting in general it should be evident that even in those modern plots in which events… — John Gardner Little girl Copy Share Image
“One has to be just a little crazy to write a great novel. One must be capable of allowing the darkest, most… — john gardner Books Copy Share Image
