Masks are wonderfully paradoxical in this way: while they may hide the physical reality, they can show us how a person wants to be seen.

Joanna Scott

Categorized in : Person Hide Way Reality

There's a point I set for myself, and it's an arbitrary point, when I think no matter happens, I'm going to finish that book. And that's when I get to page 100. I have to see it out.

myself think matter book

Telling ourselves that fiction is in a sense true and at the same time not true is essential to the art of fiction. It's been at the heart of fiction from the start. Fiction offers both truth, and we know it's a flat-out lie. Sometimes it drives a novelist mad. Sometimes it energizes us.

truth heart time art

My first two books, I was very close to my main character, stuck inside their head. And then with 'Arrogance,' I broke into many different voices. I introduce many different characters, and that helped me to develop a confidence to move between different characters, between different voices.

me confidence arrogance character

Complex literary works demand an effort from the reader that is becoming harder to justify, given the sink-or-swim pressures to make profitable products for a global marketplace.

complex make demand effort

As entertainment, fiction may offer momentary relief from the stresses of reality.

offer entertainment may reality