--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The instruction here is not for every…" description: "\"“The instruction here is not for every kind of writer - not for the writer of nurse books or thrillers or porno or the cheaper sort of sci-fi - though ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ddd/john-gardner-3092_authors_the-instruction-here-is-not-for-every-ki_78552.jpg" --- # The instruction here is not for every kind of writer - not… ![“The instruction here is not for every kind of writer - not for the writer of nurse books or thrillers or porno or the cheaper sort of sci-fi - though it is true that what holds for the most serious kind of fiction will generally hold for junk fiction as well. (Not everyone is capable of writing…” quote by John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ddd/john-gardner-3092_authors_the-instruction-here-is-not-for-every-ki_78552.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ddd/john-gardner-3092_authors_the-instruction-here-is-not-for-every-ki_78552.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ddd/john-gardner-3092_authors_the-instruction-here-is-not-for-every-ki_78552.jpg) > ““The instruction here is not for every kind of writer - not for the writer of nurse books or thrillers or porno or the cheaper sort of sci-fi - though it is true that what holds for the most serious kind of fiction will generally hold for junk fiction as well. (Not everyone is capable of writing junk fiction: It requires an authentic junk mind. Most creative-writing teachers have had the experience of occasionally helping to produce, by accident, a pornographer. The most elegant techniques in the world, filtered through a junk mind, become elegant junk techniques.)”” [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage argues that writing low-quality or genre fiction demands a distinct mindset, and that conventional literary techniques become distorted when applied by such a mindset. **In simple terms:** Genre writing requires a unique mental approach. Key Takeaway Skillful writing depends on the writer's mindset. Themes genre theory creative mindset literary technique quality perception authorial intent Mood ironic critical reflective Type observation analysis commentary When to use this quote - teaching creative writing - editing genre manuscripts - author self-assessment - literary criticism Key Concepts mindset genre conventions technique adaptation Practical Applications - designing genre-specific curricula - advising writers on genre expectations Questions to Reflect On - How does a writer's mindset influence their work? - Can mastery of technique compensate for genre biases? A Different Perspective Some may argue that good technique can elevate any genre, regardless of mindset. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Authors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authors/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Craft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/craft/) [Craftsmanship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/craftsmanship/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction Capable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-capable-1008696/) [Fiction Generally](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-generally-1008695/) [Fiction Requires](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-requires-1008694/) [Genre-fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genre-fiction/) [How-to-write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/how-to-write/) [How-to-write-fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/how-to-write-fiction/) [Instruction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instruction/) [Junk Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/junk-fiction-1008693/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Pulp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pulp/) [Pulp fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pulp-fiction/) [Technique](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technique/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“Not everyone is capable of writing junk fiction: It requires an authentic junk mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/not-everyone-is-capable-of-writing-junk-fiction-it-requires-an/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) > [You know, you can be really quite subversive in popular fiction, which is capable of taking on big issues of politics, war, the rise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-harris/you-know-you-can-be-really-quite-subversive-in-popular-fiction-which/) [Robert Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-harris/) > [I've read crime fiction all my life. 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I think politics are a part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-gaitskill/i-don-t-have-an-opinion-about-whether-or-not-politics-should-appear/) [Mary Gaitskill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-gaitskill/) > [Enjoying fiction requires a shift in selfhood. You give up your own identity and try on the identities of other people, adopting their perspectives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-bloom/enjoying-fiction-requires-a-shift-in-selfhood-you-give-up-your-own/) [Paul Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-bloom/) > [There's something peculiar about writing fiction. It requires an interesting balance between seeing the world as a child and having the wisdom of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kazuo-ishiguro/there-s-something-peculiar-about-writing-fiction-it-requires-an/) [Kazuo Ishiguro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kazuo-ishiguro/) > [Characters more or less present themselves to me. I don't know their origins. I think if I did, if I seemed to myself to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/characters-more-or-less-present-themselves-to-me-i-don-t-know-their/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [I'm not a moron, but science fiction to me requires a suspension of disbelief and honest curiosity or fascination in that kind of bullshit.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-maron/i-m-not-a-moron-but-science-fiction-to-me-requires-a-suspension-of/) [Marc Maron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-maron/) > [“a truth does not take too long to tell, only a fiction requires so much thought”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tami-hoag/a-truth-does-not-take-too-long-to-tell-only-a-fiction-requires-so/) [Tami Hoag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tami-hoag/) > [It takes a certain kind of mind to narrate, to work through character motivation, to be unforgiving to one's writer-self when it comes down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/it-takes-a-certain-kind-of-mind-to-narrate-to-work-through-character/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [Fiction -- at least for me -- requires long, relatively uninterrupted time stretches in which to bring it to fruition. I've never been a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/fiction-at-least-for-me-requires-long-relatively-uninterrupted-time/) [Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/) > [I think it's hard to write a book about happiness because fiction requires tension and complication.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwidge-danticat/i-think-it-s-hard-to-write-a-book-about-happiness-because-fiction/) [Edwidge Danticat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwidge-danticat/) ## More by John Gardner > [“All to often, on the long road up, young leaders become servants of what is rather than shapers of what might be.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/all-to-often-on-the-long-road-up-young-leaders-become-servants-of/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) > [When I was a child I truly loved: Unthinking love as calm and deep As the North Sea. 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James may go too far, but his point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/in-any-long-fiction-henry-james-remarked-use-of-the-first-person/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) > [Nothing can be more limiting to the imagination than only writing about what you know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/nothing-can-be-more-limiting-to-the-imagination-than-only-writing/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) > [A nation that values bad philosophy above good plumbing will have neither good philosophy nor good plumbing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/a-nation-that-values-bad-philosophy-above-good-plumbing-will-have/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) > [The citizen can bring our political and governmental institutions back to life, make them responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. 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(For some writers, this advice I'm giving may apply best to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/in-writing-short-stories-as-in-writing-novels-take-one-thing-at-a/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) > [All order, I've come to understand, is theoretical, unreal, a harmless, sensible, smiling mask men slide between the two great, dark realities, the self…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/all-order-i-ve-come-to-understand-is-theoretical-unreal-a-harmless/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) > [One of the many interesting challenges nature presents us is its apparent disinterest in maintaining the order humans crave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/one-of-the-many-interesting-challenges-nature-presents-us-is-its/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) [Explore all 138 John Gardner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) ## More Authors quotes > [The talk shows in the States want celebrities, not authors. In France, it is different; writers are called upon to comment on everything. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-white/the-talk-shows-in-the-states-want-celebrities-not-authors-in-france/) [Edmund White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-white/) > [“Today if anything is trying to hold you back, give no attention to it. Get your hopes up, get your faith up, look up,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germany-kent/today-if-anything-is-trying-to-hold-you-back-give-no-attention-to-it/) [Germany Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germany-kent/) > [“By their very nature, idiots do not have the intellectual capacity to identify genius. All that idiots are mentally equipped to recognize are other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dermot-davis/by-their-very-nature-idiots-do-not-have-the-intellectual-capacity-to/) [Dermot Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dermot-davis/) > [“Authors go on writing books, and so we go on reading them. It is a sad state of affairs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/authors-go-on-writing-books-and-so-we-go-on-reading-them-it-is-a-sad/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [“Intercourse is one thing, Intimacy is everything. Be encouraged”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-e-wagner/intercourse-is-one-thing-intimacy-is-everything-be-encouraged/) [Kerry E. Wagner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerry-e-wagner/) > [Most of the more celebrated names among African-American authors, poets, and artists are known to the world because of their association with specific cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aberjhani/most-of-the-more-celebrated-names-among-african-american-authors/) [Aberjhani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aberjhani/) > [“Do you read them? Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald?" "Only if I have to. I try to avoid old dead white men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-grisham/do-you-read-them-faulkner-hemingway-fitzgerald-only-if-i-have-to-i/) [John Grisham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-grisham/) > [“Grayson: Fiction is just a lie anyway. Brianna: But it's not - it's a different kind of truth - it would be your truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-roberts/grayson-fiction-is-just-a-lie-anyway-brianna-but-it-s-not-it-s-a/) [Nora Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-roberts/) > [“How long has it been since you and me? Hugs and kisses. Blankets and snuggles. Our sparks smoldering without a fireplace. 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Goodrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-e-goodrich/) > [“Crazy people love their Kindles.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dermot-davis/crazy-people-love-their-kindles/) [Dermot Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dermot-davis/) [Browse all 529 Authors quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authors/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The instruction here is not for every kind of writer - not for the writer of nurse books or thrillers or porno or the cheaper sort of sci-fi - though it is true that what holds for the most serious kind of fiction will generally hold for junk fiction as well. (Not everyone is capable of writing junk fiction: It requires an authentic junk mind. Most creative-writing teachers have had the experience of occasionally helping to produce, by accident, a pornographer. 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