Quote

Whenever I write, I write what I find to be the way people are. I never use any symbolism at all, but if you write as true to life as you possibly can, people will see symbolism. They'll all see different symbolism, but they're apt to because you can see it in life.

Being a literature major, you know, I'm very familiar with the ways symbolism is used in our sort of mythic tales of society, so anyone who is consciously trying to pull that off I think is really interesting and clearly very smart.

Playing with different genres and perspectives and ways of telling stories is one of the perks of being a novelist, but at the same time, I want precision. And in order to be precise about stuff, you have to get personal. Symbolism is very boring.

When you have spent an important part of your life playing Let's Pretend, it's often easy to see symbolism where none exists.

I seldom deal in symbolisms; if there be hidden meanings in my verse, they are there without my knowledge.

The fact is fiction is always a representation of life, sometimes the lives of famous people.

Symbols are the imaginative signposts of life.

Symbolism perhaps is a bit in your face, and I've tried my best to control that as best I can as I've grown older and thought that one could approach something with a little more subtlety.

I am much more aware of making the plot more original, avoiding contrivance, having the story matter much more. I used to think more about symbols consciously. Now I think much more about the story.

Like all writers, I draw from life as I know it; but it's a refracted kind of reality, and none of it is factually true.