Best Novel Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 21

“A horror novel should reveal to you that you are falling apart. That there are ways your imagination can be made different. Can threaten what you think is. You should be holding onto that tree or rock screaming. Or laughing. Not at absurdity, either: absurdism is just a bourgeois and reactionary nostalgia for good, stable meaning.”

Thinking Way Should Made Different Fall Imagination Novel Laughing Tree Rocks Horror Nostalgia Stable Absurdity Falling Apart Holding On Bourgeois Reactionaries

Author:Tony Burgess

“In novels you're able to occupy character's internal thoughts and it's really hard to do in a film or a TV show. When you're reading a character's thoughts or when it's in first person, you're reading kind of their own story, so you have the opportunity to see what makes that character complex or complicated. And to me that's what the whole point of fiction is.”

Firsts Kind Persons Hard Whole Character Stories Shows Able Film Reading Opportunity Fiction Novel Tvs Complexes Complicated Internals Tv Shows First Person

Author:Joe Meno

“I'm kind of interested in learning to learn and grow and challenge myself. I think I've been very fortunate in that my books are pretty different from one novel to the next. There's a lot of things that are similar but in terms of tone and the scale and how they interact with history and just the different styles as well.”

Thinking Wells Kind Book Different Next Grows Term Challenges Novel Style Scales Fortunate Tone Different Styles

Author:Joe Meno

“That was always my hope that that is exactly what I would do. It was always part of the dream of this story - to write the novel and then direct the movie.”

Writing Stories Dream Novel Direct

Author:Stephen Chbosky

“Writing a novel is a lot like directing a movie because you are creating a world and a tone, you are creating a large canvas and all the details.”

World Writing Novel Creating Details Tone Canvas

Author:Stephen Chbosky

“It's difficult for me to have a large story, a very large story - a novel is a large story. I'm used to writing and doing these little miniature paintings.”

Writing Littles Stories Used Difficult Novel Painting Miniatures

Author:Sandra Cisneros

“I didn't know how story worked. So, when writing the screenplay, people introduced me to the science of it. And I'm grateful. I'll probably use that information for the rest of my career, in terms of writing novels or writing stories. And then, of course, to help me live a better story, a more meaningful story”

People Knows Writing Helping Stories Use Courses Term Careers Novel Know How Information Grateful Meaningful Help Me Screenplays Writing Stories

Author:Donald Miller

“Before I studied story, I was trying to write a novel, and it was terrible. It wasn't going anywhere, and I couldn't figure out what I was trying to do. It was really hard; much harder than I thought it was going to be. Now that I've studied story, I think I'd have a different approach and maybe I could actually get it done.”

Thinking Writing Trying Different Hard Done Stories Novel Figures Terrible Approach Harder Get It Done Different Approach

Author:Donald Miller

“The script in many ways is limiting and novel is liberating. You get to go into the heads of your characters and their background and have fun with them; something you are discouraged from doing with a script. With the novel, I can tell you what the characters are thinking, I can tell you their view of the world, background information, things I wouldn't dare touch in the script.”

Thinking World Way I Can Character Fun Views Novel Information Scripts Dare Backgrounds Having Fun Discouraged Liberating

Author:Juliet Asante

“As to my writing short pieces, there are two reasons I can give you. The first is my invincible laziness. The second is that I've always been fond of short stories, and it always took me some trouble to get through a novel.”

Giving Writing Firsts I Can Two Reason Stories Novel Pieces Trouble Short Story Laziness Invincible Writing Short

Author:Jorge Luis Borges

“I don't base my books on my life (thank goodness) and I don't pick the topic first. In fact, the topic picks me - via a question I can't answer as a mom, a wife, a woman, an American. I find myself wondering "What if..." and it blossoms into a whole novel.”

Ifs Firsts I Can Book Whole Facts Answers Wonder Novel Wife Mom Goodness Picks What If Topics Ifs And Pick Me Wondering What If

Author:Jodi Picoult

“Many people have a novel inside them, but most don't bother to get it out.”

People Novel Bother

Author:Jodi Picoult

“You need to learn to write on demand, and to get critiqued without flinching. When someone can rip your work to shreds without it feeling as though your arm has been hacked off, you're ready to send your novel off to an agent.”

Needs Writing Has Beens Feelings Novel Ready Arms Demand Agents Rip Hacked

Author:Jodi Picoult

“I don't write the same book over and over - I think if I did that, I would stop writing. I couldn't write a series with the same character, and I couldn't write a romance novel over and over again that takes place at a different beach every year. That's not who I am.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Years Book Different Character Romance Novel Series Who I Am Beach Romance Novel

Author:Jodi Picoult

“I want to be an art-hero - I want to change the form of the novel.”

Want Art Form Novel Hero

Author:Jeanette Winterson

“Writing is the main gig and teaching and performing are sidelines, an excuse for not writing more. Working on a novel and on an opera make me seriously want to retire and find a volunteer job as a docent at the zoo explaining to schoolchildren where frogs go in the winter.”

Want Writing Jobs Novel Teaching Winter Excuse Performing Retiring Opera Volunteer Explaining Gigs Frogs Zoos Sidelines Docents

Author:Garrison Keillor

“I don't think I ever intended specifically to write for the young adult market. It's just that when the idea for City of Bones came to me, I knew the main characters were teenagers. In my mind they were just very clearly the ages they were, which turned out to mean it was a YA novel.”

Thinking Writing Mind Mean Ideas Character Age Young Cities Novel Adults Young Adult Bones Teenager Main Characters

Author:Cassandra Clare

“I am drawn to writing books about magic and the supernatural because those are the types of books I like to read. I've written many short stories with realistic settings, and I certainly wouldn't rule out realistic novels in the future!”

Writing Book Stories Novel Written Magic Type Setting Settings Realistic Short Story Writing A Book

Author:Cassandra Clare

“If someone does learn about the world from reading a novel of mine, that makes me very happy. It's probably not what brings me into the novel in the first place - I usually am pulled in by some big question about the world and human nature that I'm not going to resolve in the course of the novel. But I'm very devoted to getting my facts straight.”

Ifs World Firsts Humans Doe Facts Bigs Courses Reading Novel Human Nature Mines Resolve Devoted Very Happy Big Questions

Author:Barbara Kingsolver

“If my setting is new to a reader, or the concerns of the novel are new, I hope they will learn something about the world. I would like to say that they can trust that what they do learn in the novel will be accurate, because I pay a lot of attention to facts. I do a lot of research to make sure that I'm not giving them, you know, blue moons of Jupiter. It's not science fiction.”

Ifs Knows World Giving Facts Pay Attention Fiction Novel Reader Moon Research Concern Blue Science Fiction Setting Settings Accurate Jupiter Blue Moon

Author:Barbara Kingsolver

“I think that when people read fiction, they're really reading for wisdom. I am. That's what most of us really love. If we read a novel that rocks our world, it's because there's something in it that we didn't know already. Not just information but really wisdom - sort of what to do with our information. And wisdom comes from experience.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows World Reading Fiction Novel Rocks Information Our World

Author:Barbara Kingsolver

“Plot comes first. The plot is the archictecture of your novel. You wouldn't build a house without a plan. If I wrote without a plot, it would just be a pile of bricks. Characters are your servants. They must serve your plot.”

Ifs Firsts Character House Novel Plans Servant Plot Bricks

Author:Barbara Kingsolver

“When you pick up a novel from the bed side table, you put down your own life at the same time and you become another person for the duration.”

Persons Sides Novel Bed Picks Tables Duration

Author:Barbara Kingsolver

“I don't do research for my novels. Obviously, in my other line of work as a reporter and a columnist, I've had the opportunity to get to know both social workers and TV talk-show hosts.”

Knows Shows Opportunity Social Lines Novel Tvs Research Workers Host Reporters Social Worker Talk Shows Columnists

Author:Anna Quindlen

“You can get rid of the column. It's a little like staying at a hotel; you get used to the shape of the room, and then you're gone. With a novel you move into town and stay for a long time. That's both comforting and terrifying.”

Littles Long Moving Used Rooms Novel Gone Shapes Long Time Towns Hotel Staying Comforting Columns

Author:Anna Quindlen

“When I write a novel, I have what I think of as an icon that helps get me into the world of the book.”

Thinking World Writing Book Helping Novel Icons

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I hadn't written a love story before and I hadn't written a novel with a happy ending before.”

Stories Novel Written Love Story Happy Endings

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I'm boggled by the idea of being an only child. I know nothing at all (I'm happy to say) about having had a cold and withholding mother, about being divorced. The more I've been writing novels, each novel I've written has become successively less grounded in anything approaching autobiography.”

Knows Writing Children Ideas Mother Novel Written Cold Autobiography Grounded Divorced Only Child Withholding

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I don't really read what people write about me. Someone gives my novel one star; are they a troll? Are they someone who hates my politics and so has decided to do that?”

People Giving Writing Hate Stars Novel Decided Troll

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I never think about issues when I'm working on a novel. Issues are things that happen to people in sufficient numbers to elicit widespread attention; in other words, they're just life happening. That's what I think about: life, and telling a story.”

People Thinking Stories Happens Numbers Attention Novel Issues Happenings Sufficient Life Happens

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I hope readers will do what I do when I read a novel I like: talk in ways that will illuminate their own lives.”

Way Novel Reader

Book:Every Last One: A Novel

Source: Every Last One: A Novel

“My writerly aspirations are pretty simple: to provide as many readers as possible with the same sort of wonderful immersion that I myself get from fantasy novels - and to make enough money to help feed my kids while doing so.”

Enough Helping Kids Simple Fantasy Novel Wonderful Reader Aspiration Immersion Fantasy Novels

Author:Saladin Ahmed

“With the novels, I usually start from something in my own life that I can't resolve, so I turn it into a metaphor and for months or sometimes years I'll exhaust all of my emotional reaction to this issue by making it enormous on the page.”

Years I Can Sometimes Turns My Own Novel Issues Emotional Months Pages Metaphor Enormous Reactions Resolve My Own Life Emotional Reactions

Author:Chuck Palahniuk

“I think the most important thing is just to write. It sounds so simple, but sometimes it's not. You can get so distracted - -by having to work other jobs, or what other people have to say about your writing - -but the one thing that really matters is that you just keep going, especially when you're working on a novel. It's so easy to get discouraged and give up.”

People Thinking Giving Writing Important Sometimes Matter Jobs Easy Sound Simple Novel One Thing Giving Up Important Things Keep Going Discouraged Distracted Easy To Get

Author:Sarah Dessen

“I don't talk about my books while I'm writing them: not even my husband knows what a novel's about until it's done.”

Knows Writing Book Done Novel Husband My Husband

Author:Sarah Dessen

“The inspiration for my novels comes from the depths of a creative well, based on asking myself questions over and over. I try to write something different each time I sit down to write; I try to surprise the readers.”

Writing Trying Wells Different Inspiration Novel Creative Reader Asking Surprise Depth

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“I tend to avoid melodrama. I try to create very realistic settings and very realistic experiences and realistic responses to these experiences. Melodrama is the use of really big events that may or may not happen in real life - certainly they do, but they're not events that are common to most people. Most of the things that happen in my novels are things that could happen to people in real life.”

People Trying May Real Use Bigs Happens Common Novel Events Response Real Life Setting Settings Realistic Melodrama Big Events

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“If you've ever compared a film to a novel it's based on, you know the novel gets bludgeoned. It's inevitable, because different media have different strengths and needs, and when you make a movie, the movie's needs get served.”

Ifs Knows Needs Different Film Novel Media Inevitable

Author:Bill Watterson

“When I was probably about 10 or 11, and I found it was simply something I could do. When you're at school and you do something and you get praised for it, you think, "Oh, right, well I'll do that." From then on, I always thought I'd be a writer. I thought novels at first, and then I sort of naturally drifted into TV.”

Thinking Firsts Wells School Found Novel Tvs

Author:Steven Knight

“I'm a novelist at heart. My sole intention is to write the best novel possible. I don't think about the film potential at all.”

Thinking Writing Heart Film Novel Intention Novelists Sole Best Novel

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“I've made the decision to adhere to three general truths when it comes to my novels: There will be a love-story element to the story, the novel will be set in eastern North Carolina, and the characters will be likeable. Then, I make each novel unique through differences in voice, perspective, age and personalities of the characters, and of course, plot.”

Made Character Stories Age Three Courses Voice Differences Decision Novel Perspective Personality Elements Unique Love Story Plot Eastern Carolina North Carolina Likeable

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“I think that setting a novel in a small town taps into a sense of nostalgia among readers. People tend to believe life is different in small towns, and frankly, it is different.”

People Thinking Believe Different Life Is Novel Reader Towns Nostalgia Setting Settings Small Town

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“I'd like to be remembered not only for my body of work but also for specific novels. Ideally, I want to be remembered in the same way as Stephen King, who defined and exemplified excellence in the horror genre in the late 20th and early 21st century.”

Way Want Body Novel Century Kings Horror Late Excellence Defined Genre Remembered 21st Century Horror Genre

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“Before my first novel, I was dating a woman who later went to prison for bashing a guy with a hammer.”

Firsts Guy Novel Dating Prison Hammers

Author:Gary Shteyngart

“I myself love to read those Victorian novels which go on and on, and you don't read them in one sitting. You might read one over the course of a summer, but that isn't what I want to write.”

Want Writing Might Courses Novel Goes On Self Love Summer Sitting Victorian Love To Read

Author:Joan Didion

“I don't make movies. I don't feel that I have to have artistic control. Part of this comes from the fact that the book lives on no matter what Hollywood does to your novel in terms of a film. Now, you try to be careful who you allow to do your film because nobody wants their novel to become a turkey movie. But, on the other hand, it is a crapshot anyway, because even the best people can make a bad film.”

People Want Feels Trying Doe Book Matter Facts Hands Film Term Novel Hollywood No Matter What Careful Artistic Be Careful Turkeys

Author:Stephen King

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”

People Should Writing Character Powerful Novel Caricatures Writing Fiction Great Writing Inspiring Writing Writing Workshop

Book:Death in the Afternoon

Source: Death in the Afternoon

“Through their capacity to manipulate symbols and to engage in reflective thought, people can generate novel ideas and innovative actions that transcend their past experiences”

People Ideas Action Past Novel Capacity Symbols Manipulate Innovative Past Experiences Self Efficacy

Author:Albert Bandura

“A new opinion counts as true just in proportion as it gratifies the individual's desire to assimilate the novel in his experience to his beliefs in stock”

Truth Desire Individual Belief Opinion Novel Proportion

Book:James and Dewey on Belief and Experience

Source: James and Dewey on Belief and Experience

“The most ancient parts of truth . . . also once were plastic. They also were called true for human reasons. They also mediated between still earlier truths and what in those days were novel observations. Purely objective truth, truth in whose establishment the function of giving human satisfaction in marrying previous parts of experience with newer parts played no role whatsoever, is nowhere to be found. The reasons why we call things true is the reason why they are true, for to be true means only to perform this marriage-function.”

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Novel Quotes