My books never go where I think they're going.
Interpretation
The author's writing journey often takes unexpected turns, revealing deeper insights than initially planned.
In this quote, Khaled Hosseini expresses the unpredictable nature of the creative process. When writing, he discovers that his thoughts and narratives evolve in ways he did not anticipate, leading to richer and more profound stories than he initially envisioned. This highlights the organic nature of storytelling, where characters and plot developments can take on lives of their own.
In practice
During a writing workshop, I used this quote to explain how unpredictable the writing process can be.
You're gutless. It's how you were made. And that's not such a bad thing because your saving grace is that you've never lied to yourself about it. Not about that. Nothing wrong with cowardice as long as it comes with prudence. But when a coward stops remembering who he is... God help him.
There was brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that even time could not break. - Amir
I don't outline at all; I don't find it useful, and I don't like the way it boxes me in. I like the element of surprise and spontaneity, of letting the story find its own way.
And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.
Perspective [is] a luxury when your head [is] constantly buzzing with a swarm of demons.
The desert weed lives on, but the flower of spring blooms and wilts.
Imaginative literature primarily pleases rather than teaches. It is much easier to be pleased than taught, but much harder to know why one is pleased. Beauty is harder to analyze than truth.
When I read interviews with people like Kevin Barry or Colin Barrett, who I hugely admire, they don't really seem to come up against the question of likeability even though their characters, in some instances, are really horrible.
Certainly 'The Judgment of Paris' was the novel in which I found my own voice.
There is a tendency to presume autobiography in fiction by women or minorities. Guys named Jonathan write universal stories, while there's this sense that everyone else is just fictionalizing their own small experiences.
Literature overtakes history, for literature gives you more than one life. It expands experience and opens new opportunities to readers.
Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none
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