“Because, if one is writing novels today, concentrating on the beauty of the prose is right up there with concentrating on your semi-colons, for wasted effort.” IfsWritingTodayEffortNovelProseConcentratingEfforts Wasted Author:Neil Gaiman
“After the initial critical learning period of youth is over, the areas of the brain that need to be 'turned on' to allow enhanced, long lasting learning can only be activated when something important, surprising, or novel occurs, or if we make the effort to pay close attention.” IfsNeedsLongImportantEffortPayAttentionBrainKnowledgeNovelYouthPeriodsAreasCriticalLastingSurprisingInitialsLong Lasting Author:Norman Doidge
“I know I'll keep writing poems. That's the constant. I don't know about novels. They're hard. It takes so much concentrated effort. When I'm writing a novel it's pretty much all I can do. I get bored. It takes months. Movies do the same thing. It's all-encompassing. It feels like I'm going to end up writing poems, short stories and screenplays.” KnowsFeelsWritingI CanEndsHardStoriesCan DoEffortNovelMonthsConstantBoredShort StoryScreenplaysWriting Poems Author:Sherman Alexie
“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
“It cannot but be injurious to the human mind never to be called into effort: the habit of receiving pleasure without any exertion of thought, by the mere excitement of curiosity, and sensibility, may be justly ranked among the worst effects of habitual novel-reading.” MindHumansMayReadingPleasureEffortNovelWorstEffectsHabitMereCuriosityExcitementHuman MindReceivingSensibilityHabitualExertion Book:The works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Source: The works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“In a novella, a whole lot of crap can happen, and you can build momentum and suspense and leave room for a surprise or three. Stories are cut down to the most essential elements, and novels (this might be an unfair generalization on my part) are big fat clumsy efforts where the reader can snooze for a couple chapters and miss nothing of consequence. Hence my love for the middle way.” WayWholeStoriesBigsMightHappensThreeRoomsEffortNovelCuttingMiddleMissingReaderCoupleEssentialsElementsConsequenceSurpriseFatsSuspenseChaptersUnfairCrapMomentumClumsyGeneralizationMiddle Way Author:Robert Reed
“The characters in my novels, from the very first one, are always on some quixotic effort of attempting to control something that is uncontrollable - some element of the world that is essentially random and out of control.” WorldFirstsCharacterEffortNovelElementsAttemptingUncontrollableQuixotic Author:John Irving
“When you're depressed, you know, it's like the world has ended. Even getting out of bed takes the most massive amount of effort. But when you're manic, oh, it's so addicting. You know, I have finished novels in two weeks in manic stages.” KnowsWorldTwoEffortNovelWeekStageAmountBedFinishedMassiveTwo WeeksManic Author:Sherman Alexie