Poetry is a double-edged sword. You learn to use language…

Poetry is a double-edged sword. You learn to use language at its most intense - but this is far too intense for prose fiction. I’ve been teaching myself to progressively strip the ‘poetry’ away - the bulk of The Architect is told in very simple prose.

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Other John Scott (author) Quotes

I suppose everything about one’s self is recontextualised in an alien environment. - View Quote Details on I suppose everything about one’s self is recontextualised in an…
My work is known by too few people for me to be remembered as a writer - that is, beyond those dedicated souls (bless them) who have followed the oeuvre through its various stages. To be realistic, when they and the last of my friends have died, I doubt I shall be remembered at all. - View Quote Details on My work is known by too few people for me…
I have a backlog of novels which I would love to be working on and would be working on if I were not obliged to hold down a full time job. - View Quote Details on I have a backlog of novels which I would love…
The older I get, the more I seek to use a plain prose style, concentrating more on story. - View Quote Details on The older I get, the more I seek to use…
I don’t see myself as experimenting in any conscious way, it’s perhaps that certain books require different densities of language. - View Quote Details on I don’t see myself as experimenting in any conscious way,…
In my books I might hold the mirror to my own face. If others would like to borrow the mirror, they’re welcome. The books aren’t there to accuse others - merely to raise issues and keep the debates alive. - View Quote Details on In my books I might hold the mirror to my…
I think the twentieth century should have taught us how ‘civilisation’ is the thinnest of veneers. I was reading something last year where a state torturer said it would only take him about two weeks to ‘train’ any one of us to willingly do the same job. - View Quote Details on I think the twentieth century should have taught us how…
The Architect is just one of a series of works which examine the confrontation of innocence and experience, illustrating the complex ethics of power that exist between reader and writer, critic and artist, the human and the divine. - View Quote Details on The Architect is just one of a series of works…
If I had the luxury of working as a full time writer, I think you would see novels appearing on a much more regular, and frequent, basis. - View Quote Details on If I had the luxury of working as a full…
It seems we are capable of immense love and loyalty, and as capable of deceit and atrocity. It’s probably this shocking ambivalence that makes us unique. - View Quote Details on It seems we are capable of immense love and loyalty,…