Fiction is not a dream. nor is it guesswork. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be read more

Fiction is not a dream. nor is it guesswork. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurate or the work of imagining will not stand up.

A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction.

A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction.

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free read more

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

A film is -- or should be -- more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of read more

A film is -- or should be -- more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings.

Fiction is the truth inside the lie.

Fiction is the truth inside the lie.

The only imaginative fiction being written today is income tax returns.

The only imaginative fiction being written today is income tax returns.

Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life

Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life

An autobiography can distort, facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies. It reveals the writer totally.

An autobiography can distort, facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies. It reveals the writer totally.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.