QuoteProject
It takes some courage to write fiction about politically controversial topics. The dread is you'll be labeled a political writer.
Barbara Kingsolver
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Writing about controversial topics requires bravery, as it risks being pigeonholed into a specific category.

This quote by Barbara Kingsolver highlights the courage required for writers who choose to tackle politically controversial subjects in their fiction. It suggests that such writers face the fear of being labeled solely as 'political writers,' which can limit their creative freedom and artistic identity, yet underscores the importance of addressing significant issues through storytelling.

Themes

CourageWritingFictionPoliticsControversy

In practice

Example use cases

During a writing workshop, I shared a quote about the courage needed to tackle political topics in fiction.

More from Barbara Kingsolver

Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Children can be your heartache. But that doesn't matter, you have to go on and have them . . . it works out.
Barbara KingsolverRead
I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.
Barbara KingsolverRead
I did it to win love, and to prove myself capable. Not to move mountains. In my opinions, mountains don't move. They only look changed when you look down on them from great height.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
Barbara KingsolverRead

Similar quotes

All forms of art are consciousness expanders, and I am convinced that they will take us further, and more consciously, than drugs.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
It is the writer’s job to make the play interesting. It is the actor’s job to make the performance truthful.
David MametRead
We figured the audience would want good stories, great art, wonderful characters, people you could fall in love with that we would immediately put through hell.
Chris ClaremontRead
There’s a lot for screenwriters to steal from songwriters, in terms of getting to the point.
Paul Thomas AndersonRead
When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art.
Paul CezanneRead
Poetic simile was strictly limited to statements like 'his mighty steed was as fleet as the wind on a fairly calm day, say about Force Three,' and any loose talk about a beloved having a face that launched a thousand ships would have to be backed by evidence that the object of desire did indeed look like a bottle of champagne.
Terry PratchettRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.