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Novel Quotes

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Novel Quotes

“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.”

Writing Years Firsts Character Stories Would Be Imagination Fiction Novel Subjects Skills Research Useless Articles Reporters My Imagination Profile

Author:Amy Waldman

“My first two novels were set in the past, and that freed me up in a lot of ways; it allowed me to find my way into my story and my characters through research.”

Way Firsts Two Character Stories Past Novel Research My Way

Author:Jennifer Gilmore

“Research is always the best part. As we dug deeper into the history and mythology behind each of the hallows, we discovered more and more stories - some of them deserving of novels in themselves.”

Stories Behinds Novel Research Deeper Mythology Deserving

Author:Michael Scott

“[My wife] liked to collect old encyclopedias from second-hand bookstores, and at one point we had eight of them. When I wrote my first historical novel---back in 1980, before I was online---I used them often as a research tool. For instance, I learned that the Bastille was either 90 feet high or 100 feet or 120 feet. This led me to formulate Wilson's 22nd Law: 'Certitude belongs exclusively to those who only look in one encyclopedia.'”

Firsts Looks Hands Law Used Novel Wife Feet Research Tools Historical Eight My Wife Instance Online Bookstores Wilson Encyclopedia Second Hand Certitude Historical Novels Bastille

Author:Robert Anton Wilson

“The dead hand of research lies heavy on too many novels.”

Hands Lying Novel Research Heavy

Book:The Realities of Fiction: A Book About Writing

Source: The Realities of Fiction: A Book About Writing

“I enjoy the research element. There are so many stories from the past that interest me, that I want to learn more about, just as an interested person. And if I'm going to learn, if I'm going to research, it's probably going to lead me to writing a novel.”

Ifs Want Writing Persons Stories Past Enjoy Interest Novel Elements Research Leading Me

Author:John Boyne

“I'd studied 16th century science and magic. I thought it was strange that people were interested in the same kinds of things my research was about. The more I thought about it, the more intriguing it became and pretty soon I was writing a novel about a reluctant witch and a 1500-year-old vampire.”

People Writing Years Kind Novel Magic Century Strange Research Vampire Witch Reluctant Intriguing

Author:Deborah Harkness

“I found myself wondering, what would it be like to have a strange woman living in your home, nursing your child? My resulting research into the private lives of women in the 18th and 19th centuries inspired me and provided the backbone for [Lady of Milkweed Manor] novel.”

Children Home Found Wonder Novel Century Strange Research Our Children Inspired Your Children Private Life Nursing 19th Century Backbone Milkweed

Author:Julie Klassen

“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.”

Ifs Knows World Giving Facts Pay Attention Fiction Novel Reader Moon Research Concern Blue Science Fiction Setting Settings Accurate Jupiter Blue Moon

Author:Barbara Kingsolver

“I don't do research for my novels. Obviously, in my other line of work as a reporter and a columnist, I've had the opportunity to get to know both social workers and TV talk-show hosts.”

Knows Shows Opportunity Social Lines Novel Tvs Research Workers Host Reporters Social Worker Talk Shows Columnists

Author:Anna Quindlen

“You don't market-research a novel; you really are writing it for yourself. It's a hobby, in many ways. The problem becomes what you do when you're confronted by criticism. You just don't listen to it.”

Way Writing Problem Novel Research Criticism Hobbies Market Research

Author:Bret Easton Ellis

“As strange as this may sound, I very seldom read fiction. Because my novels require so much research, almost everything I read is non - fiction - histories, biographies, translations of ancient texts.”

May Sound Fiction Novel Strange Research Ancient Biographies Translations Non Fiction

Author:Dan Brown

“o matter how much research you do, or invention you do, whether it's a character from a novel, a completely invented character or someone who actually existed, it's a work of faction. By the very fact you only have an hour and a half or two hours to tell a story, you're telescoping events and it is, in the end, a work of imagination.”

Two Ends Matter Character Facts Stories Hours Imagination Half Novel Events Research Invention Factions

Author:Cate Blanchett

“At the beginning of the project, I wasn't certain that I could come up with an engaging storyline and cast of characters in this world, so I had a strong bias toward actually writing, and worrying about research later. In other words, I was afraid that I'd devote a year or two of my life to grinding through Kant and Husserl, then discover that there simply was no novel to be written here.”

World Writing Years Two Character Certain Strong Worry Novel Written This World Projects Research Casts Come Up Bias Engaging Storyline

Author:Neal Stephenson

“When you read a history or biography you are entitled to imagine that it is as accurate as the authors can make it. That research has gone into it and we say "This is a history of the civil war, this is a biography of Lincoln" whatever. But you don't make any such supposition when you say "This is a historical novel."”

War Novel Gone Imagine Research Historical Civil War Accurate Imagine That Entitled Biographies Supposition Historical Novels

Author:Nicholas Meyer

“For me, the historical and genealogical library is the one I use. I'm working on, I'll say, it's a time travel novel. I haven't written very much of it. That's the dirty secret of the Cullman center: The writers don't write their fiction there, they just do their research.”

Writing Use Secret Fiction Novel Written Havens Research Historical Library Dirty Time Travel Dirty Secrets

Author:Andrew Sean Greer

“I've been told by people who write historical novels that you just sort of write the emotional truth first, the story at the core, and then you go back and research it at the end.”

People Writing Firsts Ends Stories Novel Emotional Research Historical Core Historical Novels

Author:Jami Attenberg

“I do quite extensive research for most of my novels.”

Author:Sjon