Answers Quote by Pat Barker

Fiction should be about moral dilemmas that are so bloody difficult that the author doesn't know the answer.

— Pat Barker

What I hate in fiction is when the author knows better than the characters what they should do.

— Pat Barker

Fiction is a place where people can meet, where they take the time to very seriously examine and think about the experiences of other…

— Phil Klay

Fiction allows for moral questioning, but through the back door. Personally, I like books that make you think - books you're still wondering about…

— Jodi Picoult

Fiction is the great repository of the moral sense. The wicked get punished.

— Anita Brookner

The best fiction is geared towards conflict. We learn most about our characters through tension, when they are put up against insurmountable obstacles. This…

— Sufjan Stevens

I think fiction lends itself to messiness rather than the ideal, and plays well with the ironies surrounding what happens versus what should happen.

— Colm Toibin

Fiction allows you to embody certain ideas and give them an emotional reality. The characters allow you to get close viscerally to an idea.

— Anne Michaels

Fiction, on the whole, and if it is any good, tends to be a subversive element in society.

— Fay Weldon

Fiction writing is just an excuse to go discover interesting things.

— Anthony Doerr

I love fiction because in fiction you go into the thoughts of people, the little people, the people who were defeated, the poor, the…

— Isabel Allende

Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is…

— Jane Rule