We don't need to dumb down our stuff. And it's important to know how far we can push readers.
I have no ambition to surprise my reader. Castles with unknown passages are not compatible with my homely muse.
My mother was an avid reader...She loved books about romance. Books that took place in faraway places and times. Stories with costumes...
The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by 500 readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the 500, he reaches the five hundred thousand.
'The Truth About Lorin Jones' will undoubtedly shock and offend as many readers as it will amuse, since it dares to make fun of feminism - of its manners, if not its politics.
Small details are a vital part of allowing a reader to make an imaginative connection with long dead historical figures.
Avid readers are the most authentic creatures on the face of the earth, and their hearts and minds are not for sale at any price. "Mysteries for the Inspired Traveler" Goodreads blog
The greatest compliments I’ve ever received were complaints from readers that I made them stay up all night reading.
I don't think you can reach your potential as a writer unless you're a passionate reader, AND read passionately.
Every poet has his dream reader: mine keeps a look out for curious prosodic fauna like bacchics and choriambs.
He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." (on Ernest Hemingway
Reviews are for readers, not writers. If I get a bad one, I shrug it off. If I get a good one, I don't believe it
If you write genre fiction, you follow the rules, and you have to follow them because readers expect that.
I receive about 10,000 letters a year from readers, and in the first year after a book is published, perhaps 5,000 letters will deal specifically with that piece of work.
However, intention needn't enter in, and if a reader sees things in a religious way, and the work is dogmatically acceptable, then I don't see why it should not be interpreted in that way, as well as in others.
Writers themselves benefit from all helpful information about their task and methods. Readers, in turn, can have both their understanding and appreciation of literature enhanced by information about the writer's work.
In practice, the copyright system does a bad job of supporting authors, aside from the most popular ones. Other authors' principal interest is to be better known, so sharing their work benefits them as well as readers.
If a novelist has created vivid characters, interesting relationships, settings the reader can easily imagine, and intriguing stories, a screenwriter has loads to work with. The challenge comes with deciding what to cut and what to keep.
I admired the work ethic of the cowboys I read about. The idea of these young people taking on this much responsibility was impressive. I would like modern readers to have an appreciation of this.
When I started to learn how to read, I discovered the same kind of power. I could create an environment that I didn't have, and I could order this environment in the way that I couldn't in my actual life. Then, when I learned to write, I learned that...
Discussions of the effects of serial publication of Victorian novels on their authors and readers1 usually draw attention to the author's peculiar opportunities for cliff-hanging suspense, as, for instance, when Thackeray has Becky Sharp counter old ...
