Country Quote by Norman Lock
“My fictional worlds were those of a fabulist, of an intellectual fantasist. I was the lawgiver, and the countries and inhabitants of my imagination were answerable to me. If I wished for a man to levitate; to enter another's story by rowboat or by intoning a sentence or by performing a shadow-puppet play; if I wanted him to become a swarm of intelligent elementary particles and enter the Internet and travel into the past and far into the future, it was so.”
About This Quote
Source Interview: The New Yorker, “The Art of World‑Building”, 2015
The author describes his absolute creative control over imagined worlds, where any fantastical event is possible at his will.
In simple terms: He could make anything happen in his stories.
Key Takeaway
Embrace total creative freedom.
Themes
creativity
imagination
control
fantasy
storytelling
Mood
playful
reflective
inquisitive
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- writing fiction
- game design
- role‑playing
- visual arts
- animation
Key Concepts
authorial authority
world‑building
metafiction
Questions to Reflect On
- How does absolute control affect story conflict?
- What are the risks of omnipotent narration?
A Different Perspective
Such total control can limit narrative tension and character agency.
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