“A novel is a conversation starter, and if the author isn't there for the after-party, both the writer and the reader are missing a lot.” IfsPartyNovelMissingReaderConversationStartersAfter Party Author:Maggie Stiefvater
“I've come to realize that however blue my circumstances, if after finishing a chapter of a Dickens novel I feel a miss-my-stop-on-the-train sort of compulsion to read on, then everything is probably going to be just fine.” IfsFeelsRealizingNovelMissingFineCircumstancesBlueTrainChaptersCompulsionFinishingDickens Book:Rules of Civility Source: Rules of Civility
“The highest praise a writer can give another is to say he wishes he had written his book. I wish I had written Forty Words for Sorrow. Giles Blunt has a tremendous talent. If you miss Forty Words for Sorrow, you'll miss one of best novels of 2001.” IfsGivingBookWishNovelWrittenTalentMissingSorrowHighestPraiseFortyBlunt Author:Tony Hillerman
“In a novella, a whole lot of crap can happen, and you can build momentum and suspense and leave room for a surprise or three. Stories are cut down to the most essential elements, and novels (this might be an unfair generalization on my part) are big fat clumsy efforts where the reader can snooze for a couple chapters and miss nothing of consequence. Hence my love for the middle way.” WayWholeStoriesBigsMightHappensThreeRoomsEffortNovelCuttingMiddleMissingReaderCoupleEssentialsElementsConsequenceSurpriseFatsSuspenseChaptersUnfairCrapMomentumClumsyGeneralizationMiddle Way Author:Robert Reed
“Historically, the idea that you take something novel and you break it has been seen as the ultimate rejection of Enlightenment values, of progress, of civilization - because how could you possibly move forward if you break technology? I think that that misses the point, that if you introduce any kind of technology, what you're introducing is a new way of living and the consequences of that new way of living for people who were enmeshed in a different way of living need to be thought through.” PeopleThinkingKindDifferentMovingValuesBreakTechnologyNovelProgressMissingEnlightenmentConsequenceUltimateMoving ForwardRejectionIntroducing Author:Sheila Jasanoff
“In a way, I feel that we're always connected, maybe you and me, we've been connected - not only now, but before. That's why we've crossed paths. And this manifests beautifully for me in fables, old television, novels in Thailand, but now we try to ignore these themes and stories. That's why now when we make "ghost" films, they have a certain stock quality to their effects, a certain formula, and I miss how it used to be.” TryingFilmQualityNovelPathMissingGhost Author:Apichatpong Weerasethakul
“Miss Prism: Do not speak slightingly of the three-volume novel, Cecily. I wrote one myself in earlier days. Cecily: Did you really, Miss Prism? How wonderfully clever you are! I hope it did not end happily? I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much. Miss Prism: The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” MeanEndsThreeSpeakFictionNovelMissingCleverVolumeDepressingPrisms Book:The Plays of Oscar Wilde Source: The Plays of Oscar Wilde