“I would like to write a novel, or at least try to write one, although my motives are not entirely pure. For one thing, I get asked about writing novels so much that I feel guilty about never having written one. And although I have no strong desire to write a novel, I would hate not to try. That would just be silly. On the other hand, I hate the idea of slogging through something that turns out to be not good.” FeelsWritingTryingIdeasHandsDesireHateTurnsStrongNovelWrittenOne ThingPureI HateSillyGuiltyMotiveBeing SillyStrong Desire Author:Kelly Link
“There are novels that end well, but in between there are human beings acting like human beings. And human beings are not perfect. All of the motives a human being may have, which are mixed, that's the novelists' materials. That's where they have to go. And a lot of that just isn't pretty. We like to think of ourselves as really, really good people. But look in the mirror. Really look. Look at your own mixed motives. And then multiply that.” PeopleThinkingHumansWellsLooksMayEndsHuman BeingsPerfectActingNovelMaterialsMirrorsNovelistsMotiveGood PeopleNot Perfect Author:Margaret Atwood
“I have to know the killer, the victim and the motive when I begin. Then I start to create the characters and see how the novel takes shape based on what these people are like.” PeopleKnowsCharacterNovelShapesVictimMotiveKillers Author:Elizabeth George
“When starting to think about any novel, part of the motive is: I'm going to show them, this time.” ThinkingShowsNovelStartingMotive Author:Kingsley Amis
“Novels are routinely denigrated when characters are not found to be likable. Is Raskolnikov likable? Is King Lear? The plethora of such naive readers testifies to a failure of imagination - the capacity to see into unfamiliar lives, motives, feelings - and this failure must, at least in part, be the failure of the teaching of literature in the schools.” CharacterFeelingsSchoolFoundLiteratureImaginationNovelTeachingReaderKingsCapacityMotiveNaiveUnfamiliarLearRaskolnikov Author:Cynthia Ozick
“I created a character whose motives were pure and good and she was going to go out and save the whole world. But the truth is, you can't save the whole world, but you can save one. And that was the whole thrust of the novel - to save just one.” WorldWholeCharacterNovelTruth IsPureWhole WorldMotiveJust OneThrust Author:Lurlene McDaniel