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People were interesting at first. Then later, slowly but surely, all the flaws and madness would manifest themselves. I would become less and less to them; they would mean less and less to me.
Charles Bukowski (via 5ft1)
(Source: fleurlungs)
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Being born a woman is an awful tragedy… Yes, my consuming desire to mingle with road crews, sailors and soldiers, bar room regulars - to be a part of a scene, anonymous, listening, recording - all is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always in danger of assault and battery. My consuming interest in men and their lives is often misconstrued as a desire to seduce them, or as an invitation to intimacy. Yet, God, I want to talk to everybody I can as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night…
Sylvia Plath, on rape culture, etc (via knightdress)
(Source: raccoonwounds)
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If there is one reason above others for taking a writing course, it is to go through the agonizing but indispensable recognition that one’s own short story, so clear, so beautiful, so powerful, and so true, so definite in its meaning or so well balanced in its ambiguity, has become a hundred different things for other writers in your class. Even the teacher does not get your buried symbols, or worse, does not like them. Being a young writer in a writing course can bruise the psyche as much as being a novice in the Golden Gloves can hurt your head.
Norman Mailer, from Fiction Writer’s Handbook by Hallie and Whit Burnett (via writeworld)
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Fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to make us rubbery and easy to shape.
“Why fiction is good for you” in The Boston Globe (via aaknopf)
see also: why it’s never just a book/tv show/movie
representation matters
(via dearjimmoriarty)
I literally just took a course dedicated to this topic. I’m inclined to believe that fiction is more effective than anything else at persuading people to change themselves.
(via youwilllovemylaugh)
This is something I think about a lot too—I do feel like I learn a lot from reading fiction. But I think a lot of people who “aren’t big readers” or who prefer nonfiction don’t necessarily understand that. I was debating this point with someone while I was reading White Oleander and I was like “Well, now I know a lot more about LA in the 90s, and the foster care system” and they were like so surprised haha.
(via yeahwriters)
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The worst thing to call somebody is crazy, it’s dismissive. I don’t understand this person, so they’re crazy, that’s bullshit! These people are not crazy, they’re strong people, maybe their environment is a little sick.
Dave Chappelle (via ringojones)
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The pearls weren’t really white, they were a warm oyster beige, with little knots in between so if they broke, you only lost one. I wished my life could be like that, knotted up so that even if something broke, the whole thing wouldn’t come apart.
White Oleander (via fuck-yeah-lit-quotes)
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I would rather be alone, than pretend I feel alright.
“Ready To Start”, The Suburbs, Arcade Fire
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The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.
William Faulkner, 1956 (via tulve)