Does it ever stop? The wanting you?" "Even when I've just left ye. I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again.
Diana GabaldonRead
People ask me why I write strong women, and I say, 'Well, I don't like stupid ones.' Who would want to read about weak and whiny women? Are they people who assume women are weak and whiny? If so, why do they think that?
Interpretation
Diana Gabaldon emphasizes the importance of strong female characters in literature.
In this quote, Diana Gabaldon defends her choice to write strong women, questioning societal assumptions that portray women as weak or whiny. She argues that literature should reflect the strength and complexity of women's experiences, challenging stereotypes and encouraging readers to value strong female characters.
In practice
In discussions about character representation in films or books, this quote can highlight the need for strong female roles.
Does it ever stop? The wanting you?" "Even when I've just left ye. I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again.
But a man is not forgotten, as long as there are two people left under the sky. One, to tell the story; the other, to hear it.
You are at some point exposed to a wonderful story, and you really want to know what happens next, so you learn to read in order to find out.
There are things that I canna tell you, at least not yet. And I'll ask nothing of ye that ye canna give me. But what I would ask of ye---when you do tell me something, let it be the truth. And I'll promise ye the same. We have nothing now between us, save---respect, perhaps. And I think that respect has maybe room for secrets, but not for lies. Do ye agree?
Conflict and character are the heart of good fiction, and good mystery has both of those in spades.
Do you know,' he said again softly, addressing his hands, 'what it is to love someone, and never - never! - be able to give them peace, or joy, or happiness?' He looked up then, eyes filled with pain. 'To know that you cannot give them happiness, not through any fault of yours or theirs, but only because you were not born the right person for them?
All novels are sequels; influence is bliss.
There was no really good true war book during the entire four years of the war. The only true writing that came through during the war was in poetry. One reason for this is that poets are not arrested as quickly as prose writers.
We read Charlotte Bronte not for exquisite observation of character - her characters are vigorous and elementary; not for comedy - hers is grim and crude; not for a philosophic view of life - hers is that of a country parson's daughter; but for her poetry. Probably that is so with all writers who have, as she has, an overpowering personality, so that, as we say in real life, they have only to open the door to make themselves felt.
When I think of the books I love, there's always a little laughter in the dark.
Great literature cannot grow from a neglected or impoverished soil. Only if we actually tend or care will it transpire that every hundred years or so we might get a Middlemarch.
I cannot start a story or chapter without knowing how it ends. ... Of course, it rarely ends that way.
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