“As to the number of novels I've abandoned... I shudder to think. I have thrown away five completed novels, and that's a gruesome enough figure. But not necessarily a waste of effort.” ThinkingEnoughNumbersEffortNovelFiveFiguresWasteThrownAbandonedWaste Of Effort Author:Mark Haddon
“I began to write fiction on the assumption that the true enemies of the novel were plot, character, setting and theme, and having once abandoned these familiar ways of thinking about fiction, totality of vision or structure was really all that remained.” ThinkingWayWritingCharacterFictionVisionEnemyNovelStructureSettingFamiliarSettingsAssumptionThemePlotAbandonedWay Of ThinkingTotalityAll That Remains Book:A John Hawkes symposium: design and debris Source: A John Hawkes symposium: design and debris
“At the emergence of the modern novel with Rabelais and Cervantes, all kinds of things were possible in a long-form prose work. Within a couple of hundred years, most of those possibilities were abandoned in favor of a text that efficiently transmitted sentiments.” YearsKindLongFormNovelModernPossibilityCoupleHundredFavorsAll KindsProseSentimentsAbandonedEmergenceModern Novel Author:Teju Cole