“I think it's harder than ever to be an artist. I think that you end up, especially as a middle-aged person, you pay such big consequences for saying, 'I'm just going to devote my life to making art,' or 'I'm going to devote my life to writing novels.' You end up with no resources.” ThinkingWritingPersonsArtEndsBigsArtistPayNovelMiddleConsequenceResourcesHarderMiddle Aged Author:Dana Spiotta
“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
“If Edgar Allan Poe were alive today, his agent would be constantly slapping him upside the head with tightly rolled copies of his brilliant short stories and novelettes, yelling, 'Full-length novels, you moron! Pay attention! What's the matter with you -- are you shooting heroin or something? Write for the market! No more of this midlength 'Fall of the House of Usher' crap” IfsWritingMatterStoriesWould BeTodayFallHousePayAttentionNovelAliveBrilliantAgentsPay AttentionShootingLengthCopiesShort StoryCrapYellingHeroinLive For TodayMoronSlappingAllan Poe Author:Dean Koontz
“Writing screenplays is incredibly hard. I can't call it joy. Writing Novels? Joy. Directing? Joy. Writing Screenplays? That's where you pay all your dues.” WritingI CanHardJoyPayNovelDuesScreenplays Author:Stephen Chbosky
“Being accused of making money by selling sex in Hollywood, home of the casting couch and the gratuitous nude scene, is so rich with irony that it's a better subject for a comic novel than a column.... On one coast the cops are busting sex workers on Eighth Avenue, dragging them downtown to night court where they pay the fine and go right back to their corner; on another they're charging Heidi Fleiss with pandering in a town in which the verb is an art form.” ArtHomeFormNightSexPayNovelRichSubjectsFineSceneHollywoodTownsCourtWorkersCornersSellingComicMaking MoneyIronyHypocrisyCopCoastCastingAccusedAvenuesCouchesColumnsVerbsDowntownChargingBustingBeing AccusedHeidiNight Court Author:Anna Quindlen
“If my setting is new to a reader, or the concerns of the novel are new, I hope they will learn something about the world. I would like to say that they can trust that what they do learn in the novel will be accurate, because I pay a lot of attention to facts. I do a lot of research to make sure that I'm not giving them, you know, blue moons of Jupiter. It's not science fiction.” IfsKnowsWorldGivingFactsPayAttentionFictionNovelReaderMoonResearchConcernBlueScience FictionSettingSettingsAccurateJupiterBlue Moon Author:Barbara Kingsolver
“My writing derived from the conviction I conceived during my college years: one should lead one's life as if one were the protagonist of an epic novel, with the outcome predetermined and chapter after chapter of edifying, traumatic, and exhilarating events to be suffered through. Since the end is known in advance, one must try to experience as much as possible in the brief time allotted. Writing is a way of ensuring that you pay enough attention along the way to understand what you see.” IfsWayShouldWritingTryingYearsEndsEnoughPayAttentionKnownNovelEventsCollegeConvictionOutcomesChaptersEpicExhilaratingProtagonistsPredeterminedYear OneCollege Years Author:Jeffrey Tayler
“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
“There is, in my mind, no higher compliment to pay a non-fiction book than to say it reads like a novel.” MindBookPayFictionNovelHigherComplimentNon Fiction Author:Jon Weisman
“I hope that the relationship of the title to the novel [ What Belongs To You] gets more complex with each section of the book: that maybe it begins by resonating with the question of prostitution - to what extent can a body be commodified, what exactly are you renting or purchasing when you pay for sex - and deepens over the course of the book to address larger questions of ownership and belonging.” BookBodyCoursesSexPayNovelComplexesTitlesAddressesBelongingOwnershipSectionsProstitutionPurchasingResonating Author:Garth Greenwell
“I was aware that I had to pay off things in a convincing emotional fashion, that I had to address the lingering plot points in some real tangible sense, and that I had to make this a self-contained novel, in case I'm run over by a bus tomorrow or in case there's no demand for anyone to ever see a sequel. (Two things that I hope don't happen, incidentally.)” TwoRealSelfHappensRunningPayCasesNovelFashionEmotionalTomorrowDemandTwo ThingsAddressesPlotBusConvincingTangibleSequelsLingeringSelf Contained Author:Tod Goldberg
“Probably the single most commen response I get from my readesr, be it through e-mails or letters, is that they did not know much, or at times, they're quite frank, they didn't care much about Afghanistan. But they pay attention more after reading these novels, and at times it has triggered this humaitarian spirt: some have donated money or at time times, people have joined humatiarian organizations that work in Afghanistan.” PeopleKnowsCareReadingPayAttentionNovelLettersOrganizationResponsePay AttentionAfghanistanMailFrank Author:Khaled Hosseini