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Nancy Kress Quotes


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Quotes by Nancy Kress

Showing 11-20 of 46 Quotes by Nancy Kress

The process, not the results, have to be the reason a writer writes. Otherwise, creating a four-hundred-page novel is just too daunting a task.

~Nancy Kress

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The truth is, you have about three paragraphs in a short story, three pages in a novel, to capture that editor's attention enough for her to finish your story.

~Nancy Kress

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As a writer, you must know what promise your story or novel makes. Your reader will know.

~Nancy Kress

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If you're writing a thriller, mystery, Western or adventure-driven book, you'd better keep things moving rapidly for the reader. Quick pacing is vital in certain genres. It hooks readers, creates tension, deepens the drama, and speeds things along.

~Nancy Kress

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Conflict drives fiction; no one wants to read a four-hundred-page novel in which everything rolls along smoothly.

~Nancy Kress

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If you consistently write 'The sun set' rather than 'The sun sank slowly in the bright western sky,' your story will move three times as fast. Of course, there are times you want the longer version for atmosphere - but not many. Wordiness not only kills pace; it bores readers.

~Nancy Kress

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How many times have you opened a book, read the first few sentences and made a snap decision about whether to buy it? When it's your book that's coming under this casual-but-critical scrutiny, you want the reader to be instantly hooked. The way to accomplish this is to create compelling opening sentences.

~Nancy Kress

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Questions that require answers are what keep readers going - and the place to start raising those questions is with your very first sentence.

~Nancy Kress

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The most-asked question when someone describes a novel, movie or short story to a friend probably is, 'How does it end?' Endings carry tremendous weight with readers; if they don't like the ending, chances are they'll say they didn't like the work. Failed endings are also the most common problems editors have with submitted works.

~Nancy Kress

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A brief short story may require only a few paragraphs after the climax. On the other hand, in his massive novel 'The World According to Garp,' John Irving's denouement consisted of 10 separate sections, each devoted to an individual character's fate and each almost a story in itself.

~Nancy Kress

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Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Writer

Born: January 20th, 1948

Links

Find Nancy Kress on Amazon

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