There can be no better grounding for a lifetime as an author than to see humanity in all its various guises through the lens of the reporter for the town.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Most writers spend their lives standing a little apart from the crowd, watching and listening and hoping to catch that tiny hint of despair, that sliver of malice, that makes them think, 'Aha, here is the story.'
The most valuable writers are those in whom we find not themselves, or ourselves, or the fugitive era of their lifetimes, but the common vision of all times.
Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.
The novelist must ground his work in faithful study of human nature.
Many writers who have had to deal with the subject of atrocity can't face it head-on.
The novelist must look on humanity without partiality or prejudice. His sympathy, like that of the historian, must be unbounded, and untainted by sect or party.
The writer isn't made in a vacuum. Writers are witnesses. The reason we need writers is because we need witnesses to this terrifying century.
Speaking generally, people who are drawn to journalism are interested in what happens from the ground up less than they are from the top down.
The writer's job is to let the books speak for themselves eventually.
I put ordinary people in jeopardy and give them the opportunity to be heroic. Then there's a great payoff for the reader at the end, when the heroic character gets what he or she deserves. Readers will come back again and again if they feel satisfied at the end.
No opposing quotes found.