Obviously you have to make a profit to put out a newspaper. I'm not an idiot. But when the margins are in excess of 25 per cent you're talking about greed.
Carl HiaasenRead
The Florida in my novels is not as seedy as the real Florida. It's hard to stay ahead of the curve. Every time I write a scene that I think is the sickest thing I have ever dreamed up, it is surpassed by something that happens in real life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Carl Hiaasen reflects on the challenge of fictional storytelling in comparison to the outrageousness of real-life events.
In this quote, Carl Hiaasen articulates the struggle of a writer to create compelling and shocking narratives when reality continually presents more bizarre and extreme situations. He suggests that the imaginative scenarios crafted in literature often seem tame in comparison to the extraordinary and sometimes shocking occurrences in the real world, illustrating the tension between fiction and reality.
Themes
FloridaFictionRealityWritingStorytelling
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the absurdities of modern life, one could reference this quote to emphasize how real events can outshine fictional narratives.
More from Carl Hiaasen
All quotes →As frightening as this may sound, what you see in the books is the way I see the world. And so far I haven't seen anything, either in Florida or elsewhere, to dissuade me from it.
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To me, the newspaper business was a way to learn about life and how things worked in the real world and how people spoke. You learn all the skills - you learn to listen, you learn to take notes - everything you use later as a novelist was valuable training in the newspaper world. But I always wanted to write novels.
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Lots of people can write a good first page but to sustain it, that's my litmus test. If I flip to the middle of the book and there's a piece of dialogue that's just outstanding, or a description, then I'll flip back to the first page and start it.
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When you're given a newspaper column, you're not being paid to sit on a fence and scratch your chin and say 'On the one hand this' and 'On the other hand that.' You're getting paid for your opinion.
Carl HiaasenRead
The greatest sin for a writer is to be boring.
Carl HiaasenRead
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