On the Virtue and Vice of Using Quotes

We've all seen them before. Those words taken from a famous somebody that are placed strategically at the start of the first chapter. Sometimes even every chapter. And of course, even the title of a work can be a quotation. Obviously this can be done correctly, but it is easy to abuse quotes just to sound cultured. Wikiquotes hasn't helped with the situation either.

And so I am in such a position. I have the temptation to use a quote, but at the same time I feel tacky for doing so. I obviously just used Wikiquote, so I feel extra terrible about it. Even so, I can't shake the temptation.

Any advice on this? Should I make it a personal rule to avoid quotes at all cost? Why do quotes seem profound when a professional writer does it (especially when they do it at the beginning of every chapter), but often seem out of place in casual fiction? What is the rule on how often quotes should be used?

edited 1st Mar '12 7:09:51 PM by SgtHydra

I rather like the quotes that are from an in-universe work. Done right, that can give a nice sense of the world being bigger than the story set in it. Plus you can give out foreshadowing.

Insert my obligatory warning that, if the quoted work is still under copyright, you can't include a quote from it without permission. (Fair use doesn't extend to use in fictional works.)

Yes. Yes, we did.

edited 1st Mar '12 7:32:38 PM by jewelleddragon

Didn't we have a topic on this in the last month or something?

Well, it really depends on how the quotes are used. Writing is an art, so there are really no hard and fast rules on this. There are no rules that say "You absolutely cannot EVER use quotes here, here, here, and here", just like how there are no rules that say "You absolutely MUST use a quote here, here, here, and here".

When an amateur or newbie writer uses quotes, we generally expect them to sound pretentious and/or tacked-on. I suspect that this association occurs because most amateur or newbie writers don't know how to incorporate them well. We expect professional writers to handle quotes well, but even they aren't immune from dropping them or not using them gracefully. Sometimes, the subject matter of the quote itself doesn't fit the work, or it's so well-known it's cliched.

And, yeah, I agree with Loni up there- Steven Brust begins chapters with quotes of this variety in Dragaera, and it includes everything from in-universe historians and the main cast to books and at least one shopping list.

edited 1st Mar '12 7:20:05 PM by CrystalGlacia

Agreed. It is an interesting spin on it and I myself was blown away by how it was used in the videogame Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri. A huge part of that story was relayed to the player through quotes that were played after researching technology or constructing a building (for the first time). But even if there were a hundred examples of using quotes to great effect, I still wonder how to judge whether or not a specific quote should be used.

Again, how do I judge whether or not I'm adding in something I don't need?

Ask yourself this: "Would anything be undermined or otherwise cause the overall quality of the work to suffer?"

Sometimes, a quote is used to help underline a central theme, or to make something really hit home for the reader. Figuring out if this will be what happens if you were to remove a quote is something that is not easily thought about. It's one of those things that you think over while revising your draft. If I was in your position, I would want to see the whole picture before passing judgement, i.e., a finished draft.

edited 1st Mar '12 7:41:37 PM by CrystalGlacia

Sort of. The one I started—I believe that's what you're referring to—merely asked if people did this sort of thing. This is actually asking whether or not it's a good idea at all, and thus is less a "do you do this, and if you do, how?" kind of thread and more a "does this have merit?" discussion.

Anyhow, I personally like to do this, but I try to be careful to avoid the whole "OH HO DEEP QUOTATIONS! HURR." thing...

I personally like the in-universe quotes approach, but I'm not one for real-world quotes.

If you feel the quote adds something, use it. The writer has to be the main arbiter of that.

Personally, I often have quotes at the start of my novels or stories (only from public domain works, obviously), and it's possible that I err on the side of pretentiousness. But it honestly doesn't trouble me too much.

If I were to use quotes, I'd probably make them up. Finding real-world applicable ones is troublesome.