A story is a way to say something that canโt be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.
Flannery O'ConnorI have also led you astray by talking of technique as if it were something that could be separated from the rest of the story. Technique can't operate at all, of course, except on believable material.
Flannery O'ConnorWhenever Iโm asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.
Flannery O'ConnorPeople without hope not only donโt write novels, but what is more to the point, they donโt read them. They donโt take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage. The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience.
Flannery O'Connor