“I think predictability is built into any good novel in some way - you begin reading Anna Karenina and you know pretty much what's going to happen at the end. But that doesn't mean you know what's going to happen in the middle. For me, it's that sense of what happens in the middle that's important.” ThinkingKnowsWayMeanImportantEndsHappensReadingNovelMiddleBuiltAnnaPredictability Author:Scarlett Thomas
“I went and looked at one of these great cathedrals one day, and I was blown away by it. From there I became interested in how cathedrals were built, and from there I became interested in the society that built the medieval cathedral. It occurred to me at some point that the story of the building of a cathedral could be a great popular novel.” StoriesNovelBuildingOne DayBuiltMedievalCathedralsBlown Away Author:Ken Follett
“I've never seen novels as built things. I have a tendency to see them as found things so that I always feel a little bit like an archaeologist who's working to get some fragile fossil out of the ground. And the more you get out unbroken, the better you succeed.” FeelsLittlesFoundBitsNovelSucceedLittle BitBuiltTendenciesFragileFossilsUnbrokenArchaeologists Author:Stephen King
“With undead armies, psychotic angels and exploding airships, Scar Night is a gripping, ripping yarn which rattles along at a great pace. Tether all that to the knock-out image at the heart of the novel-Deepgate, a Gothic city built on a network of chains over a great abyss-and you have urban fantasy at its best.” HeartNightCitiesFantasyNovelAngelBuiltArmyChainsPaceScarUrbanAbyssGothicPsychoticGrippingExplodingUndeadYarnAirships Author:Hal Duncan
“What critics might call eclectic, and Eastern folks quirky, we Southerners call cussedness-and it's the cornerstone of the American genius. As in: 'There's a right way, a wrong way, and my way.' You want to see how that looks on the page, pick up any of Craig McDonald's novels. He's built him a nice little shack out there way off all the reg'lar roads, and he's brewing some fine, heady stuff. Leave your money under the rock and come back in an hour.” WayWantLooksLittlesMightStuffHoursNovelNiceRocksFineGeniusPagesPicksBuiltCriticsFolksMy WayRight WayEasternWrong WayMcdonaldsQuirkyCornerstonesEclecticSouthernerBrewingShack Author:James Sallis
“The novel is dead. Long live the antinovel, built from scraps.” LongNovelBuiltScrap Book:Reality Hunger Source: Reality Hunger
“Personally, one of the most helpful things I learned was three-act structure. For my first four or so novels, I built the structure intuitively.” FirstsThreeNovelFourBuiltStructureHelpful Author:Marcus Sakey
“Experimental novels are sometimes terribly clever and very seldom read. But the story that appeals to the child sitting on your knee is the one that satisfies the curiosity we all have about what happened then, and then, and then. This is the final restriction put on the technique of telling a story. A basic thing called story is built into the human condition. It's what we are; it's something to which we react.” HumansChildrenSometimesStoriesNovelHappenedConditionsSittingBuiltFinalsCuriosityTechniqueCleverAppealsKneesHuman ConditionRestrictionBasic Things Author:William Golding