Steven Saylor Quotes
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Even the crudest, most derivative novel is an expression of the author's hopes and fears and ideas about good and evil.
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There was no arguing with a man's faith in the legends of his childhood.
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In politics, reality and appearance are of equal importance. You cannot attend to one and neglect the other. A man must determine both what he is, and what others believe him to be.
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We all have a lot of people inside us, yet we get to live only one life. Fiction lets us slip into someone else’s skin, so to speak. That’s why we read novels, and also why we write them - to experience more life, through imagination.
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There is a fine sense of freedom that comes from wandering about a familiar city with no particular destination in mind, with no one to meet, no duties, no obligations. I had nothing to do and a thousand nameless, sun-drenched streets to do it in.
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Some men are one thing on the surface and another underneath. The true poet shows not just the exterior of his subject, but all the contradictions within, and lets the reader draw his own conclusions.
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All writing is an act of self-exploration. Even a grocery list says something about you; how much more does a novel say?
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I can't say I had an ideal father, and I'm not a father myself.
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Im like the painter with his nose to the canvas, fussing over details. Gazing from a distance, the reader sees the big picture.
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Writing a first novel takes so much effort, with such little promise of result or reward, that it must necessarily be a labour of love bordering on madness.