Let's stop reflexively comparing Chinese writers to Chinese writers, Indian writers to Indian writers, black writers to black writers. Let's focus on the writing itself: the characters, the language, the narrative style.
Celeste NgRead
What you look for as a reader is somebody who is going to take you and say, 'C'mon. Come into the story. I'm going to show you what there is to see.' The guide who is going to tell you, 'Pay attention over there,' or, 'Do you remember that other thing? Now watch!'
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great storytelling invites readers to engage deeply with the narrative and its elements.
In this quote, Celeste Ng emphasizes the role of a writer as a guide for the reader. A good storyteller not only presents a narrative but also actively engages the reader's attention, directing them to important details and encouraging a deeper connection with the story. This interaction fosters a richer reading experience, where the reader is led to discover and appreciate the nuances of the plot and characters.
Themes
StorytellingReadingEngagementNarrativeGuidance
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion about immersive stories, you could share this quote to highlight the importance of engagement in literature.
More from Celeste Ng
All quotes →Spend enough time wrangling a toddler, and you get good at being kind but firm. Like your child, you must be doggedly single-minded when it matters.
Celeste NgRead
For me, any story I tackle begins with the human relationships and not the plot.
Celeste NgRead
It's so easy, as a writer, to get stuck in your own head, to live in the little worlds you create. To forget that there are people out there reading your work, people who may be deeply affected by what you do, that you are writing not just for yourself, but for them.
Celeste NgRead
What I remember about race relations in the 1990s is that you showed your awareness by saying you didn't see race, that you were colour-blind.
Celeste NgRead
In fiction you're not often writing about the typical; you are interested in outliers, the points of interest. Part of it comes from feeling I was the only Asian or person of colour... another part comes from my personality: I'm an introvert, and my usual survival mode in a large group is to stand by a wall and watch everybody.
Celeste NgRead
Similar quotes
One principle problem of educating software engineers is that they will not use a new method until they believe it works and, more importantly, that they will not believe the method will work until they see it for themselves.
Watts HumphreyRead
There is considerable evidence that women's education and literacy tend to reduce the mortality rates of children
Amartya SenRead
The makers of dictionaries are dependent upon specialists for their definitions. A specialist's definition may be true or it may be erroneous. But its truth cannot be increased or its error diminished by its acceptance by the lexicographer. Each definition must stand on its own merits.
Benjamin TuckerRead
I believe we owe our young an education that captures the exhilarating drama of science.
Brian GreeneRead
People are the common denominator of progress. So no improvement is possible with unimproved people, and advance is certain when people are liberated and educated. It would be wrong to dismiss the importance of roads, railroads, power plants, mills,and the other familiar furniture of economic development. But we are coming to realize that there is a certain sterility in economic monuments that stand alone in a sea of illiteracy. Conquest of illiteracy comes first.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
My alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. It s the letter I use to spell yuzz a ma tuzz. You ll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond Z and start poking around
Dr. SeussRead