“When you get inside a literary novel you feel that the author, more often than not, just doesn't know enough about things. They haven't been around enough - novelists never go anywhere. Once I discovered true books about real things - books like 'How To Run a Company' - I stopped reading novels.” KnowsFeelsBookRealEnoughRunningReadingCompanyNovelHavensNovelistsReal ThingsReading Novels Author:Peter York
“Shades of Grey. I haven't read it yet, but what you have to read carefully, is “Story of O” by the French writer Dominique Aury. This is actually the forerunner of all the whole SM novels and it's really good. You have to read it.” WholeStoriesNovelHavensShadeGreyShades Of GreyForerunnersSms Author:Theo Hutchcraft
“writers of novels are so busy being solitary that they haven't time to meet one another. But then, a writer learns nothing from a writer, conversationally. If a writer has anything witty, profound or quotable to say he doesn't say it. He's no fool. He writes it.” IfsWritingNovelHavensFoolProfoundBusyWittySolitary Book:A Kind of Magic Source: A Kind of Magic
“I haven't written a novel or something that long, because I really am improvising all along and the story is growing new limbs to do what it needs to do. So there's very little planning. There's a little planning where I say, "Well, it looks like I'm going in this direction, ok, good." But there's very little forethought or intellectual justification: "Oh, look, I'm putting in a theme park because that represents dystopian America!"” NeedsWellsLooksLittlesLongStoriesAmericaNovelGrowingWrittenHavensIntellectualPlanningParksThemeJustificationDystopianLimbsImprovisingForethoughtTheme Parks Author:George Saunders
“My books are a subject of much discussion. They pour from shelves onto tables, chairs and the floor, and Chaz observes that I haven't read many of them and I never will. You just never know. One day I may - need is the word I use - to read Finnegans Wake, the Icelandic sagas, Churchill's history of the Second World War, the complete Tintin in French, 47 novels by Simenon, and By Love Possessed.” KnowsWorldNeedsMayBookWarUseNovelSubjectsHavensOne DayTablesDiscussionWar Of The WorldsChairsPossessedShelvesSecond World WarSagaFinnegans Wake Author:Roger Ebert
“I enjoy writing plays most. I haven't written a radio play in a while and I don't write short stories anymore because the process of submitting them depressed me. I really enjoy revising novels, but drafting them can be a pain.” WritingPlayStoriesPainProcessEnjoyNovelWrittenHavensRadioShort StoryRevisingDraftingRadio Plays Author:Sefi Atta
“Like most writers, I look back on all of my finished works with utter regret, and the trouble with writing a series of novels is that you have to go back and read them, and make sure that you haven't forgotten anything you've created, and then when you do that, you're faced with your own mistakes on every trick, from the wrong word in places to entirely the wrong incident.” WritingLooksMistakeNovelTroubleHavensRegretSeriesForgottenFinishedTricksIncidentsFinished WorkWrong Words Author:Daniel Handler
“Everyone said, 'Well, you're very old for a first novel,' and I said, 'How do you write when you haven't lived? How do you write when you have no experience? How do you write straight out of university?” WritingFirstsWellsSaidNovelHavensUniversity Author:Kate Atkinson
“My springboard is always the script. Even if the script is taken from a novel, I often haven't read the novel...” IfsNovelTakenHavensScriptsSpringboards Author:John Hurt
“If Fobbit leaves a reader feeling stranded in some bland in-between territory, then I haven't done my job. But having said all that, I didn't consciously write the book with a particular moral intent. I took what I experienced and processed it through the sausage factory of fiction. It's up to readers to interpret what's on the page - as is the case with any novel.” IfsWritingSaidBookDoneFeelingsJobsFictionMoralCasesNovelHavensParticularReaderPagesTerritoryFactoriesSausageBlandStranded Author:Dave Abrams
“For me, the historical and genealogical library is the one I use. I'm working on, I'll say, it's a time travel novel. I haven't written very much of it. That's the dirty secret of the Cullman center: The writers don't write their fiction there, they just do their research.” WritingUseSecretFictionNovelWrittenHavensResearchHistoricalLibraryDirtyTime TravelDirty Secrets Author:Andrew Sean Greer
“I haven't the stature to critique one of our literature's great novels, Tobias; and I'm not one of those who believe The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn needs critiquing for literary or social reasons.” NeedsBelieveReasonLiteratureSocialNovelHavensAdventureCritiqueStatureTobiasGreat NovelsHuckleberry Author:Norman Lock
“I co-edited an anthology called Interfictions with Delia Sherman and wrote a short scholarly book on three women poets called Voices from Fairyland: The Fantastical Poems of Mary Coleridge, Charlotte Mew, and Sylvia Townsend Warner. So I've been busy, but I haven't had time to write a novel.” WritingBookThreeVoiceNovelHavensPoetBusyMaryAnthologyCharlotteEditedScholarly Author:Theodora Goss
“I don't write novels about expeditions to the planet Mars because I haven't been there and I don't know anything about it.” KnowsWritingNovelHavensPlanetsMarsExpeditions Author:Amos Oz
“A novel is a way to rethink and rewrite and re-envision the past, and also a way to speak to people who haven't been born yet about what we think about right now.” PeopleThinkingWayPastSpeakBornNovelHavensRight Now Author:Emily Barton