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Novel Quotes

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Novel Quotes

“I'm not sure that it's possible to write a novel about people who don't transgress or stumble, people who don't surprise themselves with the things they do, people who can explain all their actions with perfect logical consistency. At least it's not possible for me to write that sort of novel.”

People Writing Action Perfect Novel Surprise Not Sure Logical Consistency

Author:Tom Perrotta

“Here was a fragment of Goddess myth that, through all its permutations, had somehow escaped being turned on its head. It was the perfect springboard for the sort of novel I wanted to write.”

Writing Wanted Perfect Novel Myth Goddess Fragments Springboards

Author:Joan D. Vinge

“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

“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.”

People Thinking Humans Wells Looks May Ends Human Beings Perfect Acting Novel Materials Mirrors Novelists Motive Good People Not Perfect

Author:Margaret Atwood

“I love short stories - reading and writing them. The best short stories distill all the potency of a novel into a small but heady draught. They are perfect reading material for the bus or train or for a lunchtime break. Everything extraneous has been strained off by the author. The best short stories pack the heft of any novel, yet resonate like poetry.”

Writing Has Beens Stories Reading Perfect Break Novel Materials Train Bus Short Story Packs Reading And Writing Short Love Potency Draught Lunchtime Best Short

Author:Ian Rankin

“I'm no lyrical stylist, you wouldn't pick me for a perfect sentence, and I certainly wouldn't describe my novels as intellectual.”

Perfect Novel Intellectual Picks Sentences Lyrical Stylist Pick Me

Author:Joanna Trollope

“The novel is a perfect medium for revealing to us the changing rainbow of our living relationships. The novel can help us to live,as nothing else can: no didactic Scripture, anyhow. If the novelist keeps his thumb out of the pan.”

Ifs Helping Literature Perfect Novel Morality Scripture Mediums Novelists Rainbow Revealing Thumbs Didactic

Book:Selected Poems of D.h. Lawrence

Source: Selected Poems of D.h. Lawrence

“Jekyll and Hyde, in particular, is such an important novel in terms of suspense and setting a perfect scene for crime”

Important Term Perfect Novel Crime Particular Scene Setting Settings Suspense Hyde Jekyll Jekyll And Hyde

Author:Alanna Knight

“My hope is that my novels reflect the reality of a world where good and evil exist, imperfect people make mistakes, but a perfect Heavenly Father offers forgiveness and second chances.”

People World Reality Evil Father Chance Perfect Mistake Novel Offers Good And Evil Making Mistakes Heavenly Imperfect Second Chance Heavenly Father People Make Mistakes

Author:Julie Klassen

“If you are working in an office, where do you find the time to write a novel? But you can finish a short story in five pages. Furthermore, a short story is a perfect place to learn the craft”

Ifs Writing Stories Perfect Novel Five Office Pages Crafts Short Story

Author:Ben Okri

“Utopian fiction is really boring. I had to read a lot of it, and it's not that much fun. But they're fascinating to me as historical documents. Cabet [Icaria's founder and author of the utopian novel, Travels in Icaria], is writing in the 1830s, and his idea of the perfect society reveals a lot about his time. But his book is uniquely bad.”

Writing Book Ideas Fun Perfect Fiction Novel Historical Boring Fascinating Founders Documents Utopian Perfect Society

Author:Christine Jennings

“The moment you carry out any of your dreams or your fantasies - travel around the world, climbing a high mountain, buying a new house, writing a novel, carrying out a sexual fantasy, traveling to an unknown country - the moment you carry out your dreams, it's always, by definition less perfect and rosy than it had been as a dream. This is the nature of dreams.”

World Writing Country Moments Dream House Perfect Fantasy Novel Mountain Definitions Around The World Your Dreams Buying Climbing Rosy

Author:Amos Oz