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Novel Quotes

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Novel Quotes

“Almost all great writers have as their motif, more or less disguised, the passage from childhood to maturity, the clash between the thrill of expectation and the disillusioning knowledge of truth. 'Lost Illusion' is the undisclosed title of every novel.”

Writing Lost Novel Childhood Illusion Expectations Titles Maturity Passages Thrill Clash Great Writers Motifs

Author:Andre Maurois

“The thing is that my first novel, which was basically a mystery adventure story, won quite an important award in Spain for young adult fiction, and because of this it became a very successful book, and right now it's some sort of a standard title, it's read widely in many high schools in Spain, so I think, in a way, I was a victim of my own success in the field of young adult fiction, because it was never my own natural register. I never intended to write that kind of fiction, but I became very successful at it.”

“I hope for so much from every book I read. And time and again, I find myself disappointed. I look across my bookshelves and see hundreds of titles which in my memory seem merely mediocre or second-rate. Only occasionally does a novel appear for which I feel a lasting passion, a book that I think could in time become a classic.”

Thinking Feels Looks Doe Book Seems Passion Memories Novel Rate Titles Classic Lasting Disappointed Mediocre Bookshelves Second Rate

Author:John Boyne

“I find coming up with a title the hardest part of writing a novel.”

Writing Novel Hardest Titles

Author:Sara Shepard

“The phrase the violent bear it away fascinated the 20th century Irish-American storyteller Flannery O'Connor, who used it as the title of one of her novels. O'Connor's surname connects her to an Irish royal family descended from Conchobor (pronounced Connor), the prehistoric king of Ulster who was foster father to Cuchulainn and husband of the unwilling Derdriu. In the western world, the antiquity of Irish lineages is exceeded only by that of the Jews.”

Source: How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe

“I couldn't decide on a title for my first novel and my editor came up with Everything Good Will Come. After that, I thought I should name my own books.A Bit of Difference seems just right.”

Should Firsts Book Seems Names Bits Differences My Own Novel Titles Editors Good Will

Author:Sefi Atta

“The term "bend sinister" means a heraldic bar or band drawn from the left side (and popularly, but incorrectly, supposed to denote bastardy). This choice of title was an attempt to suggest an outline broken by refraction, a distortion in the mirror of being, a wrong turn taken by life, a sinistral and sinister world. The title's drawback is that a solemn reader looking for "general ideas" or "human interest" (which is much the same thing) in a novel may be led to look for them in this one.”

World Humans Looks May Mean Ideas Turns Choices Left Sides Term Interest Novel Taken Broken Reader Band Mirrors Bars Titles Solemn Outlines Distortion Sinister Drawbacks Wrong Turn

Author:Vladimir Nabokov

“I hope that the relationship of the title to the novel [ What Belongs To You] gets more complex with each section of the book: that maybe it begins by resonating with the question of prostitution - to what extent can a body be commodified, what exactly are you renting or purchasing when you pay for sex - and deepens over the course of the book to address larger questions of ownership and belonging.”

Book Body Courses Sex Pay Novel Complexes Titles Addresses Belonging Ownership Sections Prostitution Purchasing Resonating

Author:Garth Greenwell

“The DNA of the novel - which, if I begin to write nonfiction, I will write about this - is that: the title of the novel is the whole novel. The first line of the novel is the whole novel. The point of view is the whole novel. Every subplot is the whole novel. The verb tense is the whole novel.”

Ifs Writing Firsts Whole Lines Views Novel Point Of View Titles Nonfiction Dna Tense Verbs Subplots

Author:Mary Kay Zuravleff

“Now, as a reader, you shouldn't feel the decisions the writer makes about this DNA, or it would be boring beyond belief. But, as a writer, you're struggling to make these decisions. What should the title be? What's the first line? The point of view? And the struggle with the decisions is because you're trying to figure out WHAT IS THE NOVEL, WHAT IS THE NOVEL?”

Feels Should Trying Firsts Would Be Belief Lines Decision Views Novel Struggle Figures Reader Boring Point Of View Titles Dna

Author:Mary Kay Zuravleff

“My first book published in France was translated and titled Exercices d'Attente in 1972. It was a collection of short works written and published in Romania. In 1973 I was ready to publish the novel Arpièges, which I had started writing in Romanian and of which I had published some fragments under the title Vain Art of the Fugue. Some years later, I finished Necessary Marriage.”

Writing Years Firsts Art Book Novel Written Ready Finished France Vain Titles Collections Fragments Publish Romania Fugue

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“It is important for me to discover the ideal title, for without this title the story or novel isn't quite in focus.”

Important Stories Novel Focus Ideals Titles

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“"The State of the Jews" was not a title of a country. It was a title of a futuristic novel.”

Country States Novel Jew Titles Futuristic

Author:Amos Oz

“A little more than a hundred years ago, "Tel Aviv" was not a city. It was a title of a novel written by an author. The "Return to Zion" was a name of another novel. There was a bookshelf. There was no country. There was no state. There was no nation. There was no physical Jewish reality in this country.”

Years Littles Country States Reality Names Nations Cities Novel Written Return Hundred Years Ago Titles Bookshelves Zion

Author:Amos Oz