“I have no doubt that 'On the Road' is a Great American Novel. But I'm also certain my students will do fine without it.” CertainNovelDoubtStudentsFineNo DoubtGreat American Author:Tony D'Souza
“Dreiser wanted to write the next great American novel, and his desperation pervades [ Sister Carrie ] like an unsavory pit stain.” WritingWantedNextNovelCarrieDesperationPitsStainsGreat American Author:Theodore Dreiser
“People think that they will sit down and produce the great American novel in one sitting. It doesn't work that way. This is a very patient and meticulous work, and you have to do it with joy and love for the process, not for the outcome.” PeopleThinkingWayJoyProcessNovelProduceSittingAnd LoveDown AndPatientOutcomesGreat AmericanMeticulous Author:Isabel Allende
“This is, if not a lifetime process, it's awfully close to it. The writer broadens, becomes deeper, becomes more observant, becomes more tempered, becomes much wiser over a period time passing. It is not something that is injected into him by a needle. It is not something that comes on a wave of flashing, explosive light one night and say, 'Huzzah! Eureka! I've got it!' and then proceeds to write the great American novel in eleven days. It doesn't work that way. It's a long, tedious, tough, frustrating process, but never, ever be put aside by the fact that it's hard.” IfsWayWritingLongHardFactsLightNightProcessNovelPeriodsToughLifetimeWaveDeeperPassingPassingsWiserFrustratingOne NightElevenNeedlesTediousTime PassingExplosivesGreat AmericanTime PassesObservantPassing It Author:Rod Serling
“I'm not looking to write the great American novel, win a Pulitzer or teach history. I write to entertain my readers.” WritingWinningTeachNovelReaderGreat American Author:Dorothy Garlock
“People didn't know certain things about me, which... I was out of creative writing class in school, Syracuse University; had a B.A. in English and wanted to write the great American novel but I also loved rock and roll. I was in bar bands all through college, playing fraternities and have to know all the songs in the top 10. That kind of thing.” PeopleKnowsWritingKindWantedSchoolCertainSongClassNovelCreativeRocksCollegeBandUniversityBarsRock And RollCreative WritingGreat AmericanFraternityTop 10SyracuseClasses In School Author:Lou Reed
“My father was a frustrated writer. I think he wanted to write the great American novel.” ThinkingWritingWantedFatherNovelFrustratedGreat American Author:Anne Waldman
“In the great city of San Francisco, where I used to live, at 2 in the morning every other Victorian house has somebody who is writing the great American novel. And the city is not loaded with James Joyces or Virginia Woolfs. But entrepreneurship is about distorted views of reality.” WritingRealityUsedHouseViewsBusinessCitiesMorningNovelEntrepreneurshipSan FranciscoVirginiaLoadedVictorianGreat AmericanGreat CitiesJoyce Author:Tom Peters
“When I went to the University of Iowa in order to be a writer, I thought, This is the worst way to learn how to write. To sit in a room with a bunch of would-be writers, who want to write the Great American Novel, every one of them, and you read their stories and they read yours, and you're not living a life. I don't like that. I like learning on the job. The character of my work has definitely evolved from the character of my life.” WayWantWritingCharacterStoriesWould BeJobsOrderRoomsNovelWorstUniversityBunchGreat AmericanIowa Author:Joe Frank
“Of course I planned to write the Great American Novel; that lasted about a week, at which point I decided I had nothing to say that could possibly qualify. So I wrote a romance instead.” WritingRomanceCoursesNovelWeekDecidedGreat American Author:Jasmine Cresswell
“I know a lot of writers who would much rather be writing the Great American Novel, but they've got bills to pay and alimony, and so they take a job at a less-than-reputable paper. You know, you do what you gotta do.” KnowsWritingJobsPayNovelPaperBillsGreat AmericanAlimonyBills To Pay Author:Eric Stoltz
“[Mark] Twain is pointing at you. You, the reader of the book one hundred and thirty years ago and today. That is what has made it a great American novel and the most widely read book in American Literature around the world today.” WorldYearsMadeBookTodayLiteratureNovelReaderHundredYears AgoMarkMade ItAround The WorldThirtyPointingWorld TodayThirty YearsGreat AmericanAmerican Literature Author:Hal Holbrook