“I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.”
—Roald Dahl
An interesting quote from the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Fantastic Mr. Fox and others given last Friday’s post on unsatisfactory endings.
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I like it!
It’s a little ambiguous, but I like it too!
I remembeer reading that quote! I loved Roald Dahl when I was younger. I once thought “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Danny the Champion of the World” were the best books ever written. 😀
And Matilda! If I’m not careful I’ll soon have a hill of children’s books to add to my to-read list… 😉
Hmm, I wonder if he was misquoted and really said ‘…just as long as he buys the book.’ And I can’t imagine an author not caring that someone hates their story.
Maybe what he said is the luxury of the successful writer. But I read it with an implicit “if (the readers) read the story all the way to the end, they didn’t really hate it”. 😉