Best novel & plot Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“I read Claire Messud's 'The Emperor's Children,' I read Joseph O'Neill's 'Netherland' - but to me, they're not 9/11 novels. In 'The Emperor's Children,' 9/11 felt to me like a piece of the plot; the novel wasn't wrestling with what 9/11 meant. And 'Netherland' felt the same way. I liked both books a lot but I don't see them as 9/11 novels.”

Way Children Book Felt Novel Pieces Plot Wrestling Emperor Claire Netherlands

Author:Amy Waldman

“As for 'story' I never yet did enjoy a novel or play in which someone didn't tell me afterward that there was something wrong with the story, so that's going to be no drawback as far as I'm concerned. "Good Lord, why am I so bored" "I know; it must be the plot developing harmoniously." So I often reply to myself, and there rises before me my special nightmare that of the writer as craftsman, natty and deft.”

Knows Play Stories Enjoy Lord Novel Special Concerned Developing Bored Nightmare Plot Craftsman Drawbacks So Bored

Author:E. M. Forster

“What initially attracted me to The Seventh Seal was that it had values and characteristics which I was familiar with in other art forms, most notably, the European novel and certain forms on English drama, and indeed, in relation to my rather academic interest in history -- not "history" in the normal sense, but history as a form of entertainment . It might be a very unfashionable view but I believe that history is an amazing bank or reserve area of plots, characterisations, extraordinary events, etc.”

Believe Art Might Form Certain Values I Believe Interest Views Novel Events Drama Normal Areas Relation Extraordinary Entertainment Familiar Characteristics Etc Plot Academic Reserves Seals

Author:Peter Greenaway

“When you're reading a novel, I think the reason you care about how any given plot turns out is that you take it as a data point in the big story of how the world works. Does such-and-such a kind of guy get the girl in the end? Does adultery ever bring happiness? How do winners become winners?”

Thinking World Kind Doe Book Ends Reason Stories Bigs Care Guy Turns Girl Reading Given Novel Data Winner Plot Adultery

Author:Elif Batuman

“The solution to the novel's legal problem is a satisfyingly intricate one, and nobody will want his money back on the plot. But the echoes that will remain in your mind after you've finished Reversible Errors will mainly have to do with the novel's other elements.”

Want Mind Problem Novel Elements Solutions Errors Finished Plot Echoes Intricate

Author:Wendy Lesser

“I write poems about relationships, love relationships, and I'm not able to do that all the time. I could go two years without writing poems, and then write a dozen. Having a novel to work on, with the intricate puzzle of character and plot to work out, is satisfying for the time there is no poetry.”

Writing Years Two Character Able Novel Work Out Plot Two Years Satisfying Dozen Puzzles Intricate Love Relationship Writing Poems

Author:May Sarton

“I did ... learn an important distinction in graduate school: a speculation about who had syphilis when is gossip if it's about your friends, a plot element if it's about a character in a novel, and scholarship if it's about John Keats.”

Ifs Important Character School Novel Elements Distinction Plot Gossip Graduates Speculation Scholarship Graduate School Syphilis

Book:Second words: selected critical prose

Source: Second words: selected critical prose

“The plot is not very important to me, though a novel must have one, of course. It's just a line to hang the washing on.”

Important Courses Lines Novel Plot Washing

Author:Ivy Compton-Burnett

“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.”

Ifs Thinking Moving Imagination Novel Mystery Plot What If Unlikely My Imagination Mystery Novels

Author:Patricia Highsmith

“Do you solemnly swear never to conceal a vital clue from the reader? Do you promise to observe seemly moderation in the use of gangs, conspiracies, Super Criminals and Lunatics and utterly and forever to forswear Mysterious Poisons unknown to science? Will you honor the King's English? ... If you fail to keep your promise, may other writers steal your plots and your pages swarm with misprints.”

Ifs May Use Novel Forever Failing Mystery Reader Kings Honor Promise Pages Criminals Stealing Mysterious Poison Plot Conspiracy Swear Moderation Clue Gang Swarms Mystery Novels

Author:Dorothy L. Sayers

“I read a lot of literary theory when I was in graduate school, especially about novels, and the best book I ever read about endings was Peter Brooks' 'Reading for the Plot. '”

Book School Reading Novel Theory Plot Graduates Peter Brooks Graduate School Literary Theory

Author:Lev Grossman

“40 Words for Sorrow is brilliant-one of the finest crime novels I've ever read. Giles Blunt writes with uncommon grace, style and compassion and he plots like a demon. This book has it all-unforgettable characters, beautiful language, throat-constricting suspense.”

Writing Book Character Beautiful Language Compassion Novel Grace Style Crime Sorrow Brilliant Suspense Demon Plot Throat Finest Uncommon Blunt Unforgettable Crime Novels

Author:Jonathan Kellerman

“I could never be a part of an adaptation of a film where there's pressure to not disappoint the immense fan base. In those cases, they often wind up with filmed books on tape, quite uncinematic. Having said that, I'd say all the adaptations I've done are quite faithful to the original... You have to pick and choose which storylines and plot threads, because you don't have the time to kill in the film as they have in novels. All those pages with detours and plots and different storylines. But films add a lot, and you gotta keep it moving.”

“In everything I've written, the crime has always just been an occasion to write about other things. I don't have a picture of myself as writing crime novels. I like fairly strong narratives, but it's a way of getting a plot moving.”

Way Writing Moving Strong Novel Written Crime Occasions Narrative Plot Crime Novels Pictures Of Myself

Author:Peter Temple

“In writing, I'm totally anti-plans of any kind. All my attempts to plan and plot novels have come to grief, and in expensive ways.”

Way Writing Kind Grief Novel Plans Expensive Plot

Author:Peter Temple

“And if I'm guilty of having gratuitous sex, then I'm also guilty of having gratuitous violence, and gratuitous feasting, and gratuitous description of clothes, and gratuitous heraldry, because very little of this is necessary to advance the plot. But my philosophy is that plot advancement is not what the experience of reading fiction is about. If all we care about is advancing the plot, why read novels? We can just read Cliffs Notes.”

Ifs Writing Littles Philosophy Care Reading Sex Fiction Novel Violence Clothes Notes Guilty Description Plot Advancement Cliffs Advancing Feasting Reading Fiction

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Once a novel gets going and I know it is viable, I don't then worry about plot or themes. These things will come in almost automatically because the characters are now pulling the story.”

Knows Character Stories Worry Novel Theme Plot Pulling

Author:Chinua Achebe

“I have this very moment finished reading a novel called The Vicar of Wakefield [by Oliver Goldsmith].... It appears to me, to be impossible any person could read this book through with a dry eye and yet, I don't much like it.... There is but very little story, the plot is thin, the incidents very rare, the sentiments uncommon, the vicar is contented, humble, pious, virtuous--but upon the whole the book has not at all satisfied my expectations.”

Littles Persons Book Whole Moments Stories Eye Reading Novel Impossible Expectations Humble Finished Satisfied Dry Plot Sentiments Virtuous Incidents Pious Uncommon Vicars

Author:Fanny Burney

“The spirit of Jane Eyre looms over Once Upon a Day. Lisa Tucker keeps the plot of this gothic novel bubbling with tons of juicy family secrets.”

Spirit Secret Novel Plot Jane Gothic Juicy

Author:Stewart O'Nan

“Introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel. If you are writing a plot-driven genre novel make sure all your major themes/plot elements are introduced in the first third, which you can call the introduction. Develop your themes and characters in your second third, the development. Resolve your themes, mysteries and so on in the final third, the resolution.”

Ifs Writing Firsts Character Novel Mystery Development Elements Majors Thirds Finals Driven Genre Theme Plot Resolve Resolution Introducing Introduction Main Characters

Author:Michael Moorcock

“A good novel is an indivisible sum; every scene, sequence and passage of a good novel has to involve, contribute to and advance all three of its major attributes: theme, plot, characterization.”

Three Novel Scene Majors Theme Plot Passages Attributes Sequence Indivisible Characterization

Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z

Source: The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z

“This world of ours has been constructed like a superbly written novel: we pursue the tale with avidity, hoping to discover the plot.”

World Has Beens Novel Written This World Discovery Tales Pursue Plot

Author:Arthur Keith

“Gritty and witty, The Chicago Way is done the classic Raymond Chandler Way. Harvey's taut plot, snappy prose, and memorable characters make this debut novel a real winner.”

Way Real Done Character Novel Witty Winner Memorable Classic Prose Plot Chicago Debut Harvey Memorable Characters

Author:Kathy Reichs

“I believe in plot, in development of character, in the effect of the passage of time, in a good story - better than something you might find in the newspaper. And I believe a novel should be as complicated and involved as you're capable of making it.”

Should Believe Character Stories Might I Believe Novel Effects Development Involved Capable I Believe In Complicated Newspapers Plot Passages Good Story Passage Of Time

Author:John Irving

“Plot comes first. The plot is the archictecture of your novel. You wouldn't build a house without a plan. If I wrote without a plot, it would just be a pile of bricks. Characters are your servants. They must serve your plot.”

Ifs Firsts Character House Novel Plans Servant Plot Bricks

Author:Barbara Kingsolver

“I've made the decision to adhere to three general truths when it comes to my novels: There will be a love-story element to the story, the novel will be set in eastern North Carolina, and the characters will be likeable. Then, I make each novel unique through differences in voice, perspective, age and personalities of the characters, and of course, plot.”

Made Character Stories Age Three Courses Voice Differences Decision Novel Perspective Personality Elements Unique Love Story Plot Eastern Carolina North Carolina Likeable

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“In a novel, the biggest symbiosis exists between plot and character. In a song, it would be the lyrics and the melody.”

Character Would Be Song Novel Plot Melody Symbiosis

Author:Jesse Michaels

“I began to write fiction on the assumption that the true enemies of the novel were plot, character, setting and theme, and having once abandoned these familiar ways of thinking about fiction, totality of vision or structure was really all that remained.”

Source: A John Hawkes symposium: design and debris

“The subject of a novel is not the plot. Who remembers what happened to Lucien de Rebempre in the end?”

Ends Remember Fiction Novel Happened Subjects Plot

Author:Graham Greene

“Creating the characters is the most creative part of the novel except for the language itself. There I am, sitting in front of my computer in right-brain mode, typing the things that come to mind - which become the seeds of plot. It's scary, though, because I always wonder: Is it going to be there this time?”

Mind Character Language Brain Wonder Novel Creative Fronts Computer Creating Sitting Scary Seeds Plot Typing

Author:Elizabeth George

“I thought I could rely on the plot in the novel and fill in the colour between the lines, but I made a mistake with that assumption. It was really, really hard because you pull a few things apart and then you realise how everything relies on everything else and it can all fall apart.”

Made Hard Fall Lines Mistake Novel Rely Assumption Colour Plot Realising Falling Apart Made A Mistake I Made A Mistake Between The Lines

Author:Ben Affleck

“I don't keep anything on paper (except within an actual novel in progress, at which point I need a file to keep track of plot threads, characters, and so on).”

Needs Character Novel Progress Paper Track Plot Thread Files

Author:Charles Stross

“With relatively few exceptions, the novel sacrifices too much, for me, on the altar of plot.”

Novel Too Much Sacrifice Exception Plot Altars

Book:Reality Hunger

Source: Reality Hunger

“A life without purpose is like a novel without a plot. It wanders all over the place, is hard to follow, and in the end, doesn't get particularly good reviews.”

Ends Hard Purpose Novel Wander Plot Reviews

Author:Mardy Grothe

“In the years since The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin, Voinovich has sharpened his satire, and Monumental Propaganda is a novel that slashes and rips -- but not on every page. He expands his narrative to accommodate shrewd philosophy and inventive portraiture, a very amusing disquisition on Soviet latrines and a number of outlandish plot developments. In his translation, Andrew Bromfield deftly shifts his tone and tools as required, remaining true to Voinovich's Vonnegut-like playfulness and appreciation of the absurd.”

“I'm a relatively disciplined writer who composes the whole book before beginning to execute and write it. Of course, you can't hold - you cannot imagine a whole novel before you write it; there are limits to human memory and imagination. Lots of things come to your mind as you write a book, but again, I make a plan, chapter, know the plot.”

Knows Writing Mind Humans Book Whole Courses Imagination Memories Novel Imagine Plans Limits Plot Chapters

Author:Orhan Pamuk

“When I write my novels I don't really have a huge plan beforehand; I don't have the whole plot and architecture, so the story is sort of discovered as I write it.”

Writing Whole Stories Novel Plans Huge Architecture Plot

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“A novel can educate to some extent, but first a novel has to entertain. That's the contract with the reader: you give me ten hours and I'll give you a reason to turn every page. I have a commitment to accessibility. I believe in plot. I want an English professor to understand the symbolism while at the same time I want the people I grew up with - who may not often read anything but the Sears catalog - to read my books.”

“A mystery novel localizes the awesome force of the real death outside the book, winds it tightly in a plot.”

Book Real Force Novel Mystery Wind Plot Mystery Novels

Book:Conversations with Don DeLillo

Source: Conversations with Don DeLillo

“When you get ready to write your novel, outline it first. There's nothing worse than getting halfway through and realizing you've painted yourself in a plot corner.”

Writing Firsts Realizing Novel Ready Corners Plot Halfway Outlines

Author:Janet Evanovich

“You say fate is almost indispensable to literature - I think it's completely indispensable, at least in a novel, because a novel always has a plot. Even if nothing happens, even if someone just spends a day walking around Dublin, or whatever, there's still something going on.”

Ifs Thinking Stills Happens Literature Novel Fate Walking Things Happen Plot Indispensable Dublin

Author:Daniel Kehlmann

“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.)”

Two Real Self Happens Running Pay Cases Novel Fashion Emotional Tomorrow Demand Two Things Addresses Plot Bus Convincing Tangible Sequels Lingering Self Contained

Author:Tod Goldberg

“I don't revise a lot when writing short stories. As far as the novel, I definitely thought more about plot. Honestly, I'm still pretty confused about what "plot" means. I've been reading some of my Goodreads reviews and one reader noted that the The Last Days of California "reads like a short story stretched to the breaking point, padded and brought into novel range..." I don't know what people want, really.”

“I was born in the era of the novel. I've written many, as well as collections of poetry, and essays for mouthing off. I've written to inches, word-counts, page-counts, even the sonnet and the screenplay (which I call a plot poem). I write narrative. That's it. I just want to tell it.”

Want Writing Wells Born Novel Written Pages Eras Narrative Collections Plot Inches Essays Sonnet Screenplays

Author:Julianna Baggott

“The story line of my novel [The Kite Runner] is largely fictional. The characters were invented and the plot imagined.”

Character Stories Lines Novel Plot Runners Kites

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I can't imagine otherwise - I guess Virginia Woolf could write wonderful novels where the women never have sex, and her novels work. But for me, I don't think I could write a plot without sex happening somewhere.”

Thinking Writing I Can Sex Novel Imagine Wonderful Happenings Plot Virginia Woolf

Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim

“The development of the plot of the novel leads to a single point, and it's my opinion that the ending that the novel has, which is a somewhat ambiguous ending, is the only logical ending given the structure of the book as a whole.”

Book Whole Given Opinion Novel Development Structure Plot Logical Ambiguous

Author:Emily Barton

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