--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As a general rule, I surmise that most…" description: "\"“As a general rule, I surmise that most fictional stories are populated by misfits, changelings, and oddities, which is what makes the writing interest..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/todd-crawshaw-40094_books_as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fi_579178.jpg" --- # As a general rule, I surmise that most fictional stories… ![“As a general rule, I surmise that most fictional stories are populated by misfits, changelings, and oddities, which is what makes the writing interesting and considered novel.” quote by Todd Crawshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/todd-crawshaw-40094_books_as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fi_579178.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/todd-crawshaw-40094_books_as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fi_579178.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/todd-crawshaw-40094_books_as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fi_579178.jpg) > ““As a general rule, I surmise that most fictional stories are populated by misfits, changelings, and oddities, which is what makes the writing interesting and considered novel.”” [Todd Crawshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Fiction thrives on characters who deviate from norms, making stories fresh and engaging. **In simple terms:** Stories are interesting when they feature misfits and oddities. Key Takeaway Embrace unconventional characters for novelty. Themes creativity characterization novelty Mood curious analytical Type literary observational When to use this quote - writing workshops - character development - genre experimentation Key Concepts literary theory psychology of difference Questions to Reflect On - How do misfits drive narrative tension? - When do oddities become gimmicks? A Different Perspective Relying solely on odd characters can neglect plot depth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Creativity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fictional stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fictional-stories/) [Novel writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel-writing/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“There were no absolutes in fiction, no certain way to deliver what was needed. So it was no surprise most technical writers considered novel-writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-a-reid/there-were-no-absolutes-in-fiction-no-certain-way-to-deliver-what-was/) [S.A. Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-a-reid/) > [I much prefer films based on fact rather than fictional stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graeme-souness/i-much-prefer-films-based-on-fact-rather-than-fictional-stories/) [Graeme Souness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graeme-souness/) > [I have realised just how important it is to readers to feel that fictional stories are based on reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/i-have-realised-just-how-important-it-is-to-readers-to-feel-that/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Fictional stories were written so that they seemed real, kind of like a well-executed lie. 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You just have to choose and use them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-earls/one-of-the-things-that-makes-characters-real-is-details-life-offers-a/) [Nick Earls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-earls/) > [“At their most basic level, great fictional stories are about transformation - usually a change from one perspective to another. The change may be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-parnell/at-their-most-basic-level-great-fictional-stories-are-about/) [Rob Parnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-parnell/) > [It is easier to compare concrete things in a fictional story with concrete things in real life than it is to compare abstractions with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/it-is-easier-to-compare-concrete-things-in-a-fictional-story-with/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [I am expecting that consumers are going to continue and exert power and influence. 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Its benefits are quasi-religious—a changed quality of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcy-sheiner/novel-writing-is-not-so-much-a-profession-as-a-yoga-or-way-an/) Marcy Sheiner > [“Laura thought Bell would have a few things to say to Pynchon. And Laura had a few things to say to Bell, like, How…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-l-barkat/laura-thought-bell-would-have-a-few-things-to-say-to-pynchon-and/) [L.L. Barkat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-l-barkat/) > [“Take care of your costume and your confidence will take care of itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/take-care-of-your-costume-and-your-confidence-will-take-care-of-itself/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) ## More by Todd Crawshaw > [“The river asked me who I was to be gazing so longingly into her curving body of cascading dreams and shifting beauty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/the-river-asked-me-who-i-was-to-be-gazing-so-longingly-into-her/) [Todd Crawshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/) > [“Consume life before it spoils.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/consume-life-before-it-spoils/) [Todd Crawshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/) > [“Each moment is now. Reality amounts to flickering lapses in time, as infinite layers of now. And with this constant motion we think of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/each-moment-is-now-reality-amounts-to-flickering-lapses-in-time-as/) [Todd Crawshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/) > [“One day we wake from sleep to wander through this tale of dreams with wings fluttering lighter than love free.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/one-day-we-wake-from-sleep-to-wander-through-this-tale-of-dreams-with/) [Todd Crawshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/) > [“Was intelligence an inevitability, a consequence of evolution? Bacteria succeeded without a brain, possessing survival skills that rivaled their biological hosts. So why should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/was-intelligence-an-inevitability-a-consequence-of-evolution-bacteria/) [Todd Crawshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/) > [“You can be anything you want to be as long as you know who you are. 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Now.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/i-live-by-four-simple-words-love-being-here-now/) [Todd Crawshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/) > [“Fast can be good. Except when moving so fast and getting so far ahead of ourselves we no longer can recognize our mode of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/fast-can-be-good-except-when-moving-so-fast-and-getting-so-far-ahead/) [Todd Crawshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/) [Explore all 11 Todd Crawshaw quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. 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There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“As a general rule, I surmise that most fictional stories are populated by misfits, changelings, and oddities, which is what makes the writing interesting and considered novel.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Todd Crawshaw" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fictional-stories-are-populated/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fictional-stories-are-populated/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/todd-crawshaw-40094_books_as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fi_579178.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/todd-crawshaw-40094_books_as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fi_579178.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/todd-crawshaw-40094_books_as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fi_579178.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As a general rule, I surmise that most fictional stories are populated by misfits, changelings, and…” — Todd Crawshaw", "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": "Todd Crawshaw", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-crawshaw/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“As a general rule, I surmise...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fictional-stories-are-populated/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-crawshaw/as-a-general-rule-i-surmise-that-most-fictional-stories-are-populated/#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 } } ] } ```