A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction.

A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction.

Fiction is not a dream. nor is it guesswork. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be read more

Fiction is not a dream. nor is it guesswork. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurate or the work of imagining will not stand up.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.

Fiction was invented the day Jonas arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he read more

Fiction was invented the day Jonas arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale.

Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life

Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free read more

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study read more

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.

An autobiography can distort, facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies. It reveals the writer totally.

An autobiography can distort, facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies. It reveals the writer totally.