“The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to fail. The trouble with most fiction is that you want them all to land in hell together, as quickly as possible.”

—  Mark Twain

Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to fail…" by Mark Twain?
Mark Twain photo
Mark Twain 637
American author and humorist 1835–1910

Related quotes

Mark Twain photo
Oscar Wilde photo

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.”

Miss Prism, Act II
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

“Science fiction encourages us to explore… all the futures, good and bad, that the human mind can envision.”

Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930–1999) Novelist, editor

As quoted in The Faces of Science Fiction (1984) by Patti Perret

Tom Clancy photo

“The difference between me and you is that I do good fiction.”

Tom Clancy (1947–2013) American author

Jokingly to news reporters. Speech at the National Press Club (18 May 1999).
1990s

Richard Bach photo

“If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Frederik Pohl photo
Eliezer Yudkowsky photo

“Your strength as a rationalist is your ability to be more confused by fiction than by reality. If you are equally good at explaining any outcome, you have zero knowledge.”

Eliezer Yudkowsky (1979) American blogger, writer, and artificial intelligence researcher

Your Strength As A Rationalist http://lesswrong.com/lw/if/your_strength_as_a_rationalist/ (August 2007)

Arthur C. Clarke photo

Related topics