“The novels take longer to write than the picture book texts, and they do take a different sort of concentration. However, a very short, simple story that works well is just as exciting to me as any longer and more complex book.” WritingWellsBookDifferentStoriesSimpleNovelExcitingComplexesConcentrationPicture Books Author:Margaret Mahy
“I had two projects that fell apart during preproduction. The first one was this movie that Judd Apatow and I had written about two guys following the Rolling Stones. It was going to be half concert film, half pseudo-documentary. It was Mick Jagger's idea.The other one was Simple Plan, based on a novel by Scott Smith. It's a great book - really stark, not a comedy - about a guy who finds $4 million in a plane crash and decides to keep it.” FirstsTwoBookIdeasFilmGuySimpleHalfMillionsNovelComedyPlansWrittenProjectsStonesFollowingPlanesConcertsCrashRollingDocumentariesStarksRolling StonesGreat BookPseudoTwo GuysJaggerPlane CrashesSimple Plan Author:Ben Stiller
“Are there any mythical beasts which aren't simple pastiches of nature? Centaurs, minotaurs, unicorns, griffons, chimeras, sphinxes, manticores, and the like don't speak well for the human imagination. None is as novel as a kangaroo or starfish.” HumansWellsSpeakImaginationSimpleNovelMythologyBeastUnicornHuman ImaginationChimeraSphinxKangaroosMinotaurCentaursStarfishPasticheMythical Beasts Author:William Poundstone
“The correlations between real life experience and the storylines in novels are never as direct or simple as they might seem.” RealSeemsMightSimpleNovelDirectReal LifeLife ExperienceCorrelationStorylineReal Life Experiences Author:Ayana Mathis
“My writerly aspirations are pretty simple: to provide as many readers as possible with the same sort of wonderful immersion that I myself get from fantasy novels - and to make enough money to help feed my kids while doing so.” EnoughHelpingKidsSimpleFantasyNovelWonderfulReaderAspirationImmersionFantasy Novels Author:Saladin Ahmed
“I think the most important thing is just to write. It sounds so simple, but sometimes it's not. You can get so distracted - -by having to work other jobs, or what other people have to say about your writing - -but the one thing that really matters is that you just keep going, especially when you're working on a novel. It's so easy to get discouraged and give up.” PeopleThinkingGivingWritingImportantSometimesMatterJobsEasySoundSimpleNovelOne ThingGiving UpImportant ThingsKeep GoingDiscouragedDistractedEasy To Get Author:Sarah Dessen
“Novels are almost like music or poetry - they just come to me in simple sentences, whereas I think my pieces get more and more complex ever since I've started using a computer.” ThinkingSimpleNovelPiecesComputerComplexesSentences Author:Joan Didion
“That's how you write novels actually. You suddenly hit upon something and you realize this is the path you were meant to take. You'd be a fool if you didn't follow it. Perhaps it's like solving a difficult question in pure mathematics. There must be a moment when the solution is so simple and evident that you wonder why you hadn't come upon it before. When you do come upon it, you know it in the deepest part of your being. It carries its own logic.” IfsKnowsWritingMomentsDifficultRealizingSimpleWonderNovelPathFoolPureSolutionsLogicMathematicsCarrieEvidentDifficult Questions Author:Don DeLillo
“I have written millions of words about contemporary England - in journalism. Why don't I take it as the background for a novel? I may do one day. But the simple answer is that it does not excite the novelistic part of my brain; it does not fire it up.” MayDoeSimpleAnswersBrainMillionsNovelFireWrittenOne DayEnglandBackgroundsContemporaryJournalism Author:Sebastian Faulks
“With my students, I don't offer any simple tips like that, maybe because my own process is pretty messy, but when we workshop we talk a lot about the deeper subject, which is what the story or novel is about. I think defining a narrative's themes can lay bare a narrative's tensions.” ThinkingStoriesProcessMy OwnSimpleNovelSubjectsStudentsOffersLaysDeeperNarrativeTensionThemeDefiningMessyWorkshops Author:Edan Lepucki