Quotessence
Home / Topics / Novel Quotes

Novel Quotes

Browse 6108 quotes about Novel.

Related topics

WritingBookThinkingStoriesIfsPeopleCharacterFirstsKnowsWayWorldReadingYearsWrittenFictionWantReaderTryingKindIdeasFeelsLiteratureShort StoryDifferentLongTwoMenShouldFilmFormWellsEndsI CanNovelistsArtPagesRealGraphicMayLittlesStillsImportantMadeNeedsGraphic NovelsBelieveHumansMeanGivingMindPersonsSometimesBigsDoeSeemsPlayHappensHas BeensFactsHardPlotRomanceWantedWholeLooksMightDoneNextEnoughThreeHeartChildrenSaidUseHistoricalCoursesMysteryWould BeLanguageMovingReasonCrimeFeelingsMomentsFantasyTermDreamPastBitsLastsRomance NovelYoungCertainComicImaginationProcessSelfMatterScreenplaysShowsmore

Novel Quotes

“What is a novel? I say: an invented story. At the same time a story which, though invented has the power to ring true. True to what? True to life as the reader knows life to be or, it may be, feels life to be. And I mean the adult, the grown-up reader. Such a reader has outgrown fairy tales, and we do not want the fantastic and the impossible. So I say to you that a novel must stand up to the adult tests of reality.”

KnowsWantFeelsMayMeanStoriesRealityTruthFictionNovelImpossibleReaderAdultsTestsRingsTalesFantasticFairyFairy TaleRealismTrue Life
Author:Elizabeth Bowen
Create image

“The short story is at an advantage over the novel, and can claim its nearer kinship to poetry, because it must be more concentrated, can be more visionary, and is not weighed down (as the novel is bound to be) by facts, explanation, or analysis. I do not mean to say that the short story is by any means exempt from the laws of narrative: it must observe them, but on its own terms.”

MeanFactsStoriesLawTermFictionNovelAdvantageClaimsBoundsNarrativeAnalysisExplanationPoetry IsShort StoryVisionariesKinship
Book:Stories
Create image

“A bad short story or novel or poem leaves one comparatively calm because it does not exist, unless it gets a fake prestige throughbeing mistaken for good work. It is essentially negative, it is something that has not come through. But over bad criticism one has a sense of real calamity.”

DoeRealStoriesFictionNovelNegativeCriticismCalmFakeWorking ItShort StoryGood WorkMistakenCalamityPrestigeLiterary Criticism
Book:The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews
Create image

“Philip Galanes has fashioned a novel both bleak and funny about a young man's struggle to sort out his troubled love: the too-strong love for his mother, the too-weak love for his suicidal father, and the all-consuming love of anonymous sexual encounters. Pointed and acute, this story tells of the narrator's many betrayals of others and their many betrayals of him. It exists in an uncomfortable moral space where the humor of terrible things sometimes outweighs, but never obscures, their poignancy.”

MenSometimesStoriesYoungMotherFatherStrongSpaceMoralNovelStruggleTerribleWeakBetrayalUncomfortableYoung ManEncountersSuicidalTerrible ThingsConsumingBleakPhilipNarratorsStrong LovePoignancyConsuming LoveWeak Love
Author:Andrew Solomon
Create image

“Philip Galanes makes his debut with a novel that is both heartbreaking and deftly comic, the story of a young man struggling with his most primitive desires--wanting and needing. It is a novel about the complex relationships between parents and children, a story of loss and of our unrelenting need for acknowledgment, to be seen as who we are. And in the end it is simply a love story for our time.”

MenNeedsChildrenEndsStoriesYoungDesireParentLossNovelStruggleComplexesLove StoryComicYoung ManOur TimeWho We ArePrimitiveHeartbreakingPhilipDebutChildren And ParentsAcknowledgmentUnrelentingComplex Relationships
Author:A.M. Homes
Create image

“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.”

LittlesPersonsBookWholeMomentsStoriesEyeReadingNovelImpossibleExpectationsHumbleFinishedSatisfiedDryPlotSentimentsVirtuousIncidentsPiousUncommonVicars
Author:Fanny Burney
Create image

“A major boom in real stock prices in the US after Black Tuesday brought them halfway back to 1929 levels by 1930. This was followed by a second crash, another boom from 1932 to 1937, and a third crash. Speculative bubbles do not end like a short story, novel, or play. There is no final denouement that brings all the strands of a narrative into an impressive final conclusion. In the real world, we never know when the story is over.”

KnowsWorldRealEndsPlayStoriesBlackLevelsNovelMajorsThirdsFinalsConclusionNarrativeReal WorldShort StoryBubblesCrashImpressiveHalfway1930sTuesdayStrandsStock PriceDenouement
Author:Robert J. Shiller
Create image

“Once in a rare while, you get to read a story of such breathtaking beauty and intelligence that you remember why you love to read. The Anatomy Lesson is just such a novel. In stunning prose, Nina Siegal animates Rembrandt's first masterpiece, spinning a deeply affecting tale of love, loss and redemption as she reveals the secrets of the human soul. It is a gorgeous literary page turner of immense sympathy and elegance, equal in artistic lan to its inspiration. Brava!”

FirstsHumansSoulStoriesInspirationRememberLossSecretNovelLessonsEqualPagesTalesRedemptionArtisticProseImmenseMasterpieceGorgeousEleganceHuman SoulSpinningAnatomyStunningBreathtakingLove To ReadTurnerNinaLove Loss
Author:Robin Oliveira
Create image

“Some time ago a publisher told me that there are four kinds of books that seldom, if ever, lose money in the United States--first,murder stories; secondly, novels in which the heroine is forcibly overcome by the hero; thirdly, volumes on spiritualism, occultism and other such claptrap, and fourthly, books on Lincoln.”

IfsFirstsKindBookStatesStoriesLosesUnitedUnited StatesNovelFourHeroOvercomingMurderVolumePublishersHeroinesSpiritualism
Book:Mencken Chrestomathy
Create image

“My major preoccupation is the question, 'What is reality ?' Many of my stories and novels deal with psychotic states or drug-induced states by which I can present the concept of a multiverse rather than a universe. Music and sociology are themes in my novels, also radical political trends; in particular I've written about fascism and my fear of it.”

I CanStatesStoriesRealityPoliticalUniverseDealsNovelWrittenParticularDrugMajorsConceptsRadicalThemeTrendsFascismSociologyPreoccupationPsychoticMultiverse
Author:Philip K. Dick
Create image

“I am of the generation of writers who can get instant feedback from readers within hours of publication. The fan forum is extraordinary - readers from all over the world coming together to discuss, argue and debate scenes and characters from a novel. They add a layer to the story that I cannot write and yes, I will participate in that conversation and answer questions. After all, they are the people I'm writing for and their enthusiasm and questions really pushes me to raise the bar.”

PeopleWorldWritingCharacterStoriesTogetherHoursAnswersNovelGenerationsFansReaderSceneConversationRaisesAddExtraordinaryArguingDebateBarsEnthusiasmInstantLayersFeedbackPublicationForumsComing TogetherRaising The Bar
Author:Michael Scott
Create image

“I believe that written stories will continue to survive because they answer an essential human need. I think movies might disappear before the novel disappears, because the novel is really one of the only places in the world where two strangers can meet on terms of absolute intimacy.”

ThinkingWorldNeedsBelieveHumansTwoStoriesMightI BelieveTermAnswersNovelWrittenEssentialsAbsolutesStrangerDisappearIntimacyPlaces In The WorldHuman Needs
Author:Jonathan Lethem
Create image

“I do not begin my novel at the beginning, I do not reach chapter three before I reach chapter four, I do not go dutifully from one page to the next, in consecutive order; no, I pick out a bit here and a bit there, till I have filled all the gaps on paper. This is why I like writing my stories and novels on index cards, numbering them later when the whole set is complete. Every card is rewritten many times.”

WritingWholeStoriesOrderThreeNextBitsNovelFourPaperPagesPicksFilledCardsGapsChaptersConsecutive
Author:Vladimir Nabokov
Create image

“When I started writing short stories, I thought I was writing a novel. I had like 60 or 70 pages. And what I realized was that I don't write inner monologue. I don't want to talk about what somebody is thinking or feeling. I wanted to try to show it in an interesting way. And so what I realized was that I was really writing a screenplay.”

ThinkingWayWantWritingTryingStoriesShowsFeelingsWantedInterestingNovelPagesI RealizedShort StoryScreenplaysMonologuesInteresting WaysWriting ShortWriting Short Stories
Author:Shane Carruth
Create image

“In novels you're able to occupy character's internal thoughts and it's really hard to do in a film or a TV show. When you're reading a character's thoughts or when it's in first person, you're reading kind of their own story, so you have the opportunity to see what makes that character complex or complicated. And to me that's what the whole point of fiction is.”

FirstsKindPersonsHardWholeCharacterStoriesShowsAbleFilmReadingOpportunityFictionNovelTvsComplexesComplicatedInternalsTv ShowsFirst Person
Author:Joe Meno
Create image

“I didn't know how story worked. So, when writing the screenplay, people introduced me to the science of it. And I'm grateful. I'll probably use that information for the rest of my career, in terms of writing novels or writing stories. And then, of course, to help me live a better story, a more meaningful story”

PeopleKnowsWritingHelpingStoriesUseCoursesTermCareersNovelKnow HowInformationGratefulMeaningfulHelp MeScreenplaysWriting Stories
Author:Donald Miller
Create image

“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.”

MadeCharacterStoriesAgeThreeCoursesVoiceDifferencesDecisionNovelPerspectivePersonalityElementsUniqueLove StoryPlotEasternCarolinaNorth CarolinaLikeable
Author:Nicholas Sparks
Create image

“I wanted to avoid what some modern tellers have done, quite legitimately, to make fairy tales more like novels and short stories, to characterize the heroes and the heroines much more than they are characterized in Grimm. I like the psychological flatness of them, the fact that they're more like masks than individuals.”

DoneFactsStoriesWantedIndividualNovelModernHeroTalesPsychologicalFairyMaskShort StoryFairy TaleHeroinesGrimmFlatness
Author:Philip Pullman
Create image

“When I write my novels, I'm not writing them to make political points. I'm writing them because I passionately love monsters and the weird and horror stories and strange situations and surrealism, and what I want to do is communicate that. But, because I come at this with a political perspective, the world that I'm creating is embedded with many of the concerns that I have. But I never let them get in the way of the monsters.”

WorldWayWantWritingStoriesPoliticalSituationNovelStrangePerspectiveHorrorCreatingConcernCommunicateMonstersEmbeddedSurrealismHorror Stories
Author:China Mieville
Create image

“Don't wait for success, but for the respect and interest of those who read you. At the start it could be a classmate, someone who shares your interests. Before sending off the manuscript for a novel to a publishing house, it would be a good idea to try writing short stories, and publishing them in a local magazine.”

WritingTryingIdeasStoriesWould BeHouseWaitingInterestNovelShareLocalsMagazinesShort StoryGood IdeasPublishingManuscriptsClassmatesWriting ShortPublishing HouseWriting Short Stories
Author:Dacia Maraini
Create image

“The process for writing a picture book is completely different from the process of writing a chapter book or novel. For one thing, most of my picture books rhyme. Also, when I write a picture book I'm always thinking about the role the pictures will play in the telling of the story. It can take me several months to write a picture book, but it takes me several years to write a novel.”

ThinkingWritingYearsBookDifferentPlayStoriesProcessRolesNovelOne ThingMonthsTake MeChaptersRhymeAlways ThinkingPicture Books
Author:Sarah Weeks
Create image

“With a novel, which takes perhaps years to write, the author is not the same man he was at the end of the book as he was at the beginning. It is not only that his characters have developed-he has developed with them, and this nearly always gives a sense of roughness to the work: a novel can seldom have the sense of perfection which you find in Chekhov's story, The Lady with the Dog.”

MenGivingWritingYearsBookEndsCharacterStoriesNovelDogPerfectionInsightfulShort StoryChekhovRoughnessWriting Short Stories
Book:Collected Stories
Create image