Departed Quote by Ron Currie Jr
“A lot of the despair we feel watching the news every day flows from our sense of helplessness, and as a fiction writer you get to control things, if only on the page. You get to run the show. You can right wrongs, bring departed loved ones back to life, even take vengeance on God, if that's your thing.”
About This Quote
Source Interview: The New Yorker, "The Power of Fiction", 2019
Despair from news stems from helplessness; writers can control narratives, creating justice or revenge on the page.
In simple terms: Writers can shape stories to counter real‑world helplessness.
Key Takeaway
Use storytelling to explore agency.
Themes
fiction
control
helplessness
Mood
reflective
hopeful
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- writing workshops
- therapy through storytelling
- political satire
- personal catharsis
Key Concepts
narrative agency
psychological coping
ethical imagination
Questions to Reflect On
- What story would you rewrite to feel empowered?
- How does imagined control affect real anxiety?
A Different Perspective
Fiction cannot change actual events, only perception.
