The fiction writer in me likes gaps in stories because I can jump into that gap and try to suggest something.
Marlon JamesRead
I'm not a writer on a mission, and I'm very suspicious of writers on missions, but I'm also not living a false life.
Interpretation
The quote expresses skepticism towards writers who claim to have a specific agenda, while affirming the value of authenticity in one's life.
In this quote, Marlon James conveys the complexity of being a writer. He expresses distrust for those who approach writing with a rigid mission or agenda, suggesting that such a mindset can lead to inauthenticity. However, he also highlights the importance of living truthfully, indicating that while he does not subscribe to being a mission-driven writer, he values sincere self-expression and honesty in life.
In practice
This quote can be used in a creative writing workshop to discuss the importance of authenticity in storytelling.
The fiction writer in me likes gaps in stories because I can jump into that gap and try to suggest something.
If your depiction of loss doesn't make the reader feel loss, then you didn't depict it right.
I always tell my students to complicate your characters: never make it easy for the reader. Nobody is ever one thing. That's what makes characters compelling.
Not every gay person recites poetry or has read Keats. You can get readers through anything if the characters are complicated. You can't dismiss Josey Wales' quite liberal worldview.
Every nation has a right to govern itself internally under what forms it pleases, and to change these forms at its own will.
The subject then of these chapters may be stated thus, - man's only righteousness is through the mercy of God in Christ, which being offered by the Gospel is apprehended by faith.
The citizens of a city are not guilty of the crimes committed in their city; but they are guilty as participants in the destiny of [humanity] as a whole and in the destiny of their city in particular; for their acts in which freedom was united with destiny have contributed to the destiny in which they participate. They are guilty, not of committing the crimes of which their group is accused, but of contributing to the destiny in which these crimes happened.
But they never notice the following inconsistency: this so-called worst-case event, when it happened, exceeded the worst case at the time.
The question is not, do we go to church; the question is, have we been converted. The crux of Christianity is not whether or not we give donations to popular charities but whether or not we are really committed to the poor.
Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.
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