“If you have no conflict, you have no story. That's number one. That's a rule of novels.” IfsStoriesNumbersNovelConflict Author:Nicholas Sparks
“I don't think you should write something as long as a novel around anything that is not of the gravest concern to you and everybody else and for me this is always the conflict between an attraction for the Holy and the disbelief in it that we breathe in with the air of the times.” ThinkingShouldWritingLongNovelAirHolyConflictConcernBreatheAttractionDisbelief Author:Flannery O'Connor
“Every serious novel is, beyond its immediate thematic preoccupations, a discussion of the craft, a conquest of the form, a conflict with its difficulties and a pursuit of its felicities and beauty.” FormNovelSeriousConflictDifficultyPursuitCraftsDiscussionConquestPreoccupationFelicityThematic Author:Ralph Ellison
“Every novel deals with social problems. It can't help it because the protagonist must come in conflict with his group. So the author has to offer an analysis of how the group and the protagonist fit. Otherwise, the reader will just say, "This makes no sense," and will put it away.” HelpingProblemSocialDealsNovelGroupsReaderFitOffersConflictAnalysisProtagonistsSocial Problems Author:Jane Smiley