“One easy mistake to make with the first novel is to expand the short story. Some things are better as a story; you cannot dilute things into a novel. I think the first hundred pages of a novel are very important. That's where you set things up: the world, the characters. Once you've set that up, it'll be much easier.” ThinkingWorldFirstsImportantCharacterStoriesEasyMistakeNovelEasierPagesHundredShort Story Author:Yiyun Li
“I always tell my students to go back after a hundred pages and rewrite from the beginning. It's really harder if you've already finished four hundred pages and realize the first hundred aren't working.” IfsFirstsRealizingFourStudentsPagesHundredHarderFinished Author:Yiyun Li
“The decaying that had dragged on for too long had only turned tragedy into nuisance; death, when it strikes, better completes its annihilating act on the first try.” TryingFirstsLongTragedyStrikesNuisance Book:Kinder Than Solitude Source: Kinder Than Solitude
“Almost all of the stories in The Matchmaker, the Apprentice, and the Football Fan are told in the first person, yet, depending on the angle and distance of the narrator, they exert different effects. The best are those in which the speaker never poses as an objective outsider. (...) Other stories are damaged by the urge to distance the narrator.” FirstsPersonsDifferentStoriesFansEffectsFootballDistanceObjectivesUrgesSpeakersOutsidersAngleFirst PersonApprenticeNarratorsFootball Fan Author:Yiyun Li
