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Novel Quotes

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Novel Quotes

“A great novel is concerned primarily with the interior lives of its characters, as they respond to the inconvenient narratives that fate imposes on them. Movie adaptations of these monumental fictions often fail because they become mere exercises in interior decoration.”

Character Fiction Novel Fate Failing Exercise Concerned Mere Narrative Interiors Adaptation Decoration Inconvenient Great Novels

Author:Richard Schickel

“Axiom : Novel must have either one living character or a perfect pattern: fails otherwise.”

Character Perfect Novel Failing Patterns Axioms

Book:Commonplace Book

Source: Commonplace Book

“The reason I shift gears constantly, why I'm doing an opera, why I've done essays, why I've written poetry for years that nobody wanted, why I do short stories and novels and screenplays... is so I will have new ways of failing. This means becoming a student again.”

Way Years Mean Reason Done Stories Wanted Novel Failing Written Students Becoming Short Story Opera New Ways Essays Gears Screenplays

Author:Ray Bradbury

“Do you solemnly swear never to conceal a vital clue from the reader? Do you promise to observe seemly moderation in the use of gangs, conspiracies, Super Criminals and Lunatics and utterly and forever to forswear Mysterious Poisons unknown to science? Will you honor the King's English? ... If you fail to keep your promise, may other writers steal your plots and your pages swarm with misprints.”

Ifs May Use Novel Forever Failing Mystery Reader Kings Honor Promise Pages Criminals Stealing Mysterious Poison Plot Conspiracy Swear Moderation Clue Gang Swarms Mystery Novels

Author:Dorothy L. Sayers

“Here is a writer possessing the greatest talent: that of fully inhabiting the lives of others. Spargo conjures up these two as no one has done before. Scott and Zelda become, in Spargo's remarkable novel, not people of history but of literature, and reminders of what we fight for, what we fail to win, and the beauty that abides between. A marvel of a book.”

People Two Book Done Fighting Literature Winning Novel Failing Talent Remarkable Reminders Possessing Lives Of Others

Author:Andrew Sean Greer

“To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favourite novels, my mum brought me up reading it, and it never fails to move me.”

Moving Reading Novel Failing Favourite Mum Mockingbird Kill A Mockingbird

Author:Jessica Marais

“I get stage fright with short stories. For me it feels like standup comedy: kill or die. I'm more confident when I begin a novel because I know I have space to fail.”

Knows Feels Stories Dies Space Novel Comedy Failing Stage Short Story Fright Stage Fright

Author:Sefi Atta

“We don't really know how technology will affect narrative. That's the question. See, people used to say that the novel is going to die, but they would never say that movies will die with it, when in fact all forms depend on the narrative. I think if one of them fails, the others are going to fail as well. Maybe this will happen to both forms, and maybe movies will take a totally different direction with fiction.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows Wells Different Facts Happens Form Used Dies Fiction Technology Novel Know How Failing Depends Narrative Different Directions

Author:Don DeLillo