--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sometimes I worry that people who read my…" description: "\"Sometimes I worry that people who read my fiction think that I am making some kind of thesis statement.\" — Jenny Zhang" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/jenny-zhang-7725_i-am_sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-m_1169775.jpg" --- # Sometimes I worry that people who read my fiction think… ![“Sometimes I worry that people who read my fiction think that I am making some kind of thesis statement.” quote by Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/jenny-zhang-7725_i-am_sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-m_1169775.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/jenny-zhang-7725_i-am_sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-m_1169775.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/jenny-zhang-7725_i-am_sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-m_1169775.jpg) > “Sometimes I worry that people who read my fiction think that I am making some kind of thesis statement.” [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author worries readers may misinterpret fiction as a thesis, overlooking its narrative and emotional layers. **In simple terms:** Fiction can be seen as a lesson rather than a story. Key Takeaway Clarify intent and embrace multiple readings. Themes writing perception authorial intent Mood introspective concerned Type literary personal When to use this quote - book clubs - literary criticism - author talks Key Concepts narrative interpretive flexibility reader response Questions to Reflect On - Do you want your work seen as a lesson or a story? - How do you balance message and narrative? 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I think poetry can go to fiction to learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/i-think-it-s-true-that-that-s-something-that-poetry-can-go-to-school/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [Young readers have to be entertained. No child reads fiction because they think it's going to make them a better person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/young-readers-have-to-be-entertained-no-child-reads-fiction-because/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It's really important in any historical fiction, I think, to anchor the story in its time. And you do that by weaving in those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-winspear/it-s-really-important-in-any-historical-fiction-i-think-to-anchor-the/) [Jacqueline Winspear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-winspear/) > [We range widely, we readers of fiction, but I think we all need a home. Mine is science fiction. It's my home shelf, my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-sloan/we-range-widely-we-readers-of-fiction-but-i-think-we-all-need-a-home/) [Robin Sloan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-sloan/) ## More by Jenny Zhang > [I grew up in a Chinese American enclave where the person who lived down the street had literally lived down the street from my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/i-grew-up-in-a-chinese-american-enclave-where-the-person-who-lived/) [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) > [I think it was really important for me before I 'debuted myself' in front of the world to have a private life with my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/i-think-it-was-really-important-for-me-before-i-debuted-myself-in/) [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) > [When it comes to love, maturity often gets a bad rap - second love is boring; it's practical. 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People don't want to waste their time on anything less than 'great.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/that-s-what-people-expect-they-don-t-want-to-read-a-slight-novel/) [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) > [My privileged upbringing and education and linguistic fluency gave me such proximity to whiteness that it stung all the more to still find myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/my-privileged-upbringing-and-education-and-linguistic-fluency-gave-me/) [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) > [I still catch myself trying to become the object someone imagines me to be, but then there are other times, when I am free,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/i-still-catch-myself-trying-to-become-the-object-someone-imagines-me/) [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) > [How do we form a coalition of resistance without obliterating our differences? Not all lives matter, and we are not all the same immigrants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/how-do-we-form-a-coalition-of-resistance-without-obliterating-our/) [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) > [It's like a weird mindset to wake up and want to be wanted. Like, I want to be wanted so much already... and I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/it-s-like-a-weird-mindset-to-wake-up-and-want-to-be-wanted-like-i/) [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) > [Does self-acceptance ultimately require another person, or is there a kind of love that does not dabble in the dream of a perfect twinship?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/does-self-acceptance-ultimately-require-another-person-or-is-there-a/) [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) > [It's okay if someone is disgusted or offended by my performance. It's just a performance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/it-s-okay-if-someone-is-disgusted-or-offended-by-my-performance-it-s/) [Jenny Zhang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) [Explore all 88 Jenny Zhang quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/) ## 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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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": "Sometimes I worry that people who read my fiction think that I am making some kind of thesis statement.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jenny Zhang" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-my-fiction-think-that-i-am/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fiction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-my-fiction-think-that-i-am/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/jenny-zhang-7725_i-am_sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-m_1169775.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/jenny-zhang-7725_i-am_sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-m_1169775.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/jenny-zhang-7725_i-am_sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-m_1169775.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sometimes I worry that people who read my fiction think that I am making some kind of thesis statement.” — Jenny Zhang", "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": "Jenny Zhang", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-zhang/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Sometimes I worry that people who...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-my-fiction-think-that-i-am/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-zhang/sometimes-i-worry-that-people-who-read-my-fiction-think-that-i-am/#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 } } ] } ```