Once you realize there's less logic in human institutions than you once thought, you see the narrative potential in just about everything around you. Sometimes, in fact, it seems as if the human world runs on inefficiency and erratic behavior. Jeff VanderMeer More Quotes by Jeff VanderMeer More Quotes From Jeff VanderMeer You can either waste time worrying about a death that might not come or concentrate on what’s left to you. Jeff VanderMeer waste worry might You could know the what of something forever and never discover the why. Jeff VanderMeer knows forever Film fixes a precise visual image in the viewer's head. In fiction, you just hope you're precise enough to convey the intended effect. Jeff VanderMeer film enough fiction History has shown us all too often the consequences of dreaming poorly or not at all. Jeff VanderMeer consequence dream I always try to be alert to the potential for repetition, for a decaying orbit with regard to my use of technique, etc. Jeff VanderMeer etc technique trying I have always tended toward a lush prose style, but I take care to modulate it from story to story and to strip it down entirely when necessary. Jeff VanderMeer style care stories I’ve got...ways of tricking my brain into getting what I need out of it Jeff VanderMeer brain way needs The stories in Get In Trouble confirm once again that Kelly Link is a modern virtuoso of the form-playful and subversive required reading for anyone who loves short fiction. Jeff VanderMeer short-love reading fiction Across all of the universe of creative lying, whether you believe in the art of it or the entertainment of it, or both, a certain foundation in the basics allows you to kind of jump out into the unknown. Jeff VanderMeer believe lying art Silence creates it's own violence. Jeff VanderMeer violence silence I had learned so much about the world that I had decided to withdraw from it. Jeff VanderMeer decided world Who had the bigger burden? The one who had to watch the other person endure or the one who endured? Jeff VanderMeer burden bigger watches One thing about beginning writers is that they don't really always know their own strengths and weaknesses - you might think you're bad at characterization, but that might really be because of some issue you're having with another element, which is making it hard for you to express character in a convincing way. Jeff VanderMeer issues character thinking When they give you things, ask yourself why. When you're grateful to them for giving you the things you should have anyway, ask yourself why. Jeff VanderMeer grateful should-have giving It is the nature of the writer to question the validity of his world and yet rely on his senses to describe it. From what other tension can great literature be born? Jeff VanderMeer born literature world An inordinate love of ritual can be harmful to the soul, unless, of course, in times of great crisis, when ritual can protect the soul from fracture. Jeff VanderMeer fracture crisis soul Even a dream as inspiration doesn't mean anything unless you then find that it's sparked an actual story with a plot. Jeff VanderMeer inspiration dream mean The city might be savage, stray dogs might share the streets with grimy urchins whose blank eyes reflected the knowledge that they might soon be covered over, blinded forever, by the same two pennies just begged from some gentleman, and no one in the fuming, fulminous boulevards of trade might know who actually ran Ambergris-or, if anyone ran it at all, but, like a renegade clock, it ran on and wound itself heedless, empowered by the insane weight of its own inertia, the weight of its own citizenry. Jeff VanderMeer eye cities dog My mother is an artist, and I have a strong visual sense. I almost always choose the cover art for my books. I've learned that the more I collaborate, like by having someone do a soundtrack to one of my books, the more I see my own work differently. Jeff VanderMeer strong mother art That's how the madness of the world tries to colonize you: from the outside in, forcing you to live in its reality. Jeff VanderMeer trying life reality