“I had been a reporter for 15 years when I set out to write my first novel. I knew how to research an article or profile a subject - skills that I assumed would be useless when it came to fiction. It was from my imagination that the characters in my story would emerge.” WritingYearsFirstsCharacterStoriesWould BeImaginationFictionNovelSubjectsSkillsResearchUselessArticlesReportersMy ImaginationProfile Author:Amy Waldman
“When I am thickening my plots, I like to think 'What if ... What if ... ' Thus my imagination can move from the likely, which everyone can think of, to the unlikely-but-possible, my preferred plot.” IfsThinkingMovingImaginationNovelMysteryPlotWhat IfUnlikelyMy ImaginationMystery Novels Author:Patricia Highsmith
“I certainly incorporate facts into my fiction. I take the basic facts from the life of my subject and I pick and choose what to use to construct a really interesting novel. I don't let facts get in the way of my imagination and my exploration of the subject's emotions and relationships.” WayFactsUseImaginationInterestingEmotionFictionNovelSubjectsPicksExplorationConstructsMy ImaginationReally Interesting Author:Melanie Benjamin
“A novel, for me, relies on my imagination to inspire your (the reader's) imagination. It is not all there for you. My novels or my stories come to me visually. I use words to translate the novel I see inside my head into words that I hope will create a movie inside your head.” StoriesUseImaginationNovelInspireReaderRelyTranslateMy Imagination Author:Jay Neugeboren
“I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have from reading novels. The understatements in the tenor saxophone of Lester Young, the crystal, haunting, forever searching sounds of John Coltrane, and the softness and violence of Count Basie's big band - all have fired my imagination as much as anything in literature.” PeopleWritingBigsYoungReadingLiteratureSoundImaginationNovelForeverViolenceListeningBandJazzI Have LearnedMy ImaginationHauntingCrystalsSoftnessSaxophoneTenorsUnderstatementColtraneReading NovelsLester Young Author:Ernest Gaines