“I never even considered writing a career option. I just liked the play of words. I was certainly interested in story, but the stories I was telling then were in narrative verse and prose poems, short and succinct, except for one novel-length poem written in narrative couplets.” WritingPlayStoriesCareersNovelWrittenNarrativeProseLengthVersesCouplets Author:Charles de Lint
“Just about everything significant in my life happened after I passed forty. I was a housewife and mother, but yearned to be a writer. I worked at my writing whenever I could snatch a moment, and I assembled several manuscripts. I was just about forty when my first novel, East Wind, West Wind, was published. Then a few months later came The Good Earth. My career was launched at last, and it has given me the richest possible satisfaction” WritingFirstsMomentsEarthLastsMotherGivenCareersNovelHappenedWindMonthsWestSatisfactionEastSignificantFortyHousewifeManuscriptsLife HappensGood Earth Author:Pearl S. Buck
“In terms of a "career," I never have long-term plans, and certainly don't want to spend several years, say, writing a "long" novel.” WantWritingYearsLongTermCareersNovelPlansLong Term Author:Scott Bradfield
“My remembrance of the past is a novel I am constantly recomposing; and it would not be a historical novel, but sheer fiction, if the material events which mark and ballast my career had not their public dates and characters scientifically discoverable.” IfsCharacterPastFictionCareersNovelEventsMaterialsMarkHistoricalSheerRemembranceHistorical NovelsBallast Book:The Essential Santayana: Selected Writings Source: The Essential Santayana: Selected Writings
“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” PeopleKnowsWritingHelpingStoriesUseCoursesTermCareersNovelKnow HowInformationGratefulMeaningfulHelp MeScreenplaysWriting Stories Author:Donald Miller
“Throughout my career I've struggled to encourage people to read my books on a more metaphorical level. I'm less attached to my settings than, for example, Saul Bellow. The setting of a novel for me is just a part of the technique. I choose it at the end.” PeopleBookEndsLevelsCareersNovelExampleTechniqueSettingSettingsMetaphorical Author:Kazuo Ishiguro
“You think you're writing one historical novel and it turns into three, and I'm quite used to a short story turning into a novel - that's happened through my whole career.” ThinkingWritingWholeStoriesUsedTurnsThreeCareersNovelHappenedHistoricalShort StoryHistorical Novels Author:Hilary Mantel
“An important factor to note is that it's rare for anyone to sell a first novel written before they turned 30-35; long-format fiction tends to require a bunch of experience of human life that takes time to acquire. So your average mid-career novelist is in their forties to fifties!” FirstsHumansLongImportantFictionCareersNovelWrittenSellsNotesAverageBunchFactorsHuman LifeNovelistsAcquireFortyTake TimeFormat Author:Charles Stross
“You know how some people will say to writers, "Why don't you just write a romance novel that sells a bunch of copies and then you'll have the money to do the kind of writing you want to do"? I always say that I don't have the skills or knowledge to do that. It would be just as hard for me to do that kind of writing as it would be to learn how to do any number of productive careers that I can't manage to make myself do.” PeopleKnowsWantWritingKindI CanHardWould BeRomanceNumbersCareersNovelKnow HowSkillsSellsBunchManageProductiveCopiesRomance Novel Author:Lucy Corin
“Different influences at different times in my career, and some have stayed with me more, some less. Chester Himes. Ralph Dennis, who wrote a series called Hardman which is a big influence on the Hap and Leonard novels. Harlan Ellison, Philip Jose Farmer, Gerald Kersh, Fredrick Brown, Robert Bloch, and I'm just getting started. I read constantly. As for the epic Western, that's Paradise Sky.” DifferentBigsCareersNovelSkyInfluenceSeriesWesternParadiseBrownFarmersEpicDifferent TimesPhilipGetting Started Author:Joe R. Lansdale