“In my view the plangent artificiality of a lot of creative work results from the fact that the people who write novels, direct films and put on plays tend to read too many novels, watch too many films and go to too many plays.” PeopleWritingPlayFactsFilmResultsViewsWatchesNovelCreativeDirectCreative WorkArtificiality Author:Will Self
“I suspect there are two kinds of novelists. Those who have a point of view and have something to say and then write a novel in order to say that thing, and those of us who write the book in order to find out what we think about that thing.” ThinkingWritingKindTwoBookOrderViewsNovelPoint Of ViewNovelistsSuspects Author:Neil Gaiman
“Suspending moral judgment is not the immorality of the novel; it is its morality. The morality that stands against the ineradicable human habit of judging instantly, ceaselessly, and everyone; of judging before, and in the absence of, understanding. From the viewpoint of the novel's wisdom, that fervid readiness to judge is the most detestable stupidity, the most pernicious evil.” HumansEvilUnderstandingViewsMoralNovelJudgingHabitMoralityJudgmentStupidityAbsenceReadinessImmoralityPerniciousMoral Judgment Author:Milan Kundera
“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.” BelieveArtMightFormCertainValuesI BelieveInterestViewsNovelEventsDramaNormalAreasRelationExtraordinaryEntertainmentFamiliarCharacteristicsEtcPlotAcademicReservesSeals Author:Peter Greenaway
“Detective stories keep alive a view of the world which ought to be true. Of course people read them for fun ... But underneath they feed a hunger for justice ... you offer to divert them, and you show them by stealth the orderly world in which we should all try to be living.” PeopleWorldShouldTryingStoriesShowsCoursesFunJusticeViewsNovelAliveMysteryOughtOffersHungerBeing TrueDetectivesOrderlyMystery NovelsStealthDetective Stories Book:Thrones, Dominations Source: Thrones, Dominations
“My view of an excellent novel was probably set in the golden age of fiction in the 19th century: narrative, character and voice are of equal importance.” CharacterAgeVoiceViewsFictionNovelCenturyEqualImportanceGoldenNarrativeExcellent19th CenturyGolden Age Author:Joanna Trollope
“A novel is, hopefully, the starting point of a conversation, one in which the author engages readers and asks that they see things from a different point of view than they might otherwise.” DifferentMightAsksViewsNovelReaderConversationStartingPoint Of ViewHopefullyStarting PointDifferent Points Of View Author:Anne Fortier
“If one writes or reads novels from the point of view of psychology, it is very inconsistent and petty to want to shy away from even the slowest and most detailed analysis of the most unnatural lusts, gruesome tortures, shocking infamy, and disgusting sensual or spiritual impotence.” IfsWantWritingSpiritualViewsNovelPsychologyPoint Of ViewLustSensualAnalysisTortureShyDisgustingShockingPettyUnnaturalInconsistentImpotenceInfamy Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“The script in many ways is limiting and novel is liberating. You get to go into the heads of your characters and their background and have fun with them; something you are discouraged from doing with a script. With the novel, I can tell you what the characters are thinking, I can tell you their view of the world, background information, things I wouldn't dare touch in the script.” ThinkingWorldWayI CanCharacterFunViewsNovelInformationScriptsDareBackgroundsHaving FunDiscouragedLiberating Author:Juliet Asante
“My decision to view the world through novels, as it were, which is a typically European way of looking at things, became a heavy burden for me. But I took it on consciously, even though it was torture for me.” WorldWayDecisionViewsNovelBurdenHeavyTortureHeavy Burdens Author:Orhan Pamuk
“I sometimes joke that I am the first writer of historical fiction who can look out his window and point to the objects in his novels. I have a view of the entrance to the Bosporus, the old city, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque.” FirstsLooksSometimesViewsCitiesFictionNovelObjectsJokesWindowBlueHistoricalHistorical FictionEntrancesMosquesSophia Author:Orhan Pamuk
“I think my writing process changes as I gain more life experience... It has taken me many years to be able to write a novel that shows the points of view of people of different ages and personalities.” PeopleThinkingWritingYearsDifferentShowsAgeAbleProcessViewsNovelTakenPersonalityGainsPoint Of ViewLife ExperienceWriting ProcessDifferent Ages Author:Kathleen Winter
“In the great city of San Francisco, where I used to live, at 2 in the morning every other Victorian house has somebody who is writing the great American novel. And the city is not loaded with James Joyces or Virginia Woolfs. But entrepreneurship is about distorted views of reality.” WritingRealityUsedHouseViewsBusinessCitiesMorningNovelEntrepreneurshipSan FranciscoVirginiaLoadedVictorianGreat AmericanGreat CitiesJoyce Author:Tom Peters
“One never knows enough about characters in real life to put them into novels. One gets started and then, suddenly, one can not remember what toothpaste they use; what are their views on interior decoration, and one is stuck utterly. No, major characters emerge; minor ones may be photographed.” KnowsWritingMayRealEnoughCharacterUseRememberViewsNovelMajorsStuckReal LifeMinorsCan NotInteriorsDecorationToothpaste Book:Conversations with Graham Greene Source: Conversations with Graham Greene
“I'd been assured, at age 21 or so, by a well-known editor who saw the first part of The Secret History in what was basically its final form, that it would never be published because "no woman has ever written a successful novel from a male point of view."” FirstsWellsAgeFormViewsSecretKnownNovelSuccessfulSawsWrittenMalesFinalsPoint Of ViewEditorsWell KnownAssured Author:Donna Tartt
“I started writing a novel from the monster's point of view. It has its own difficulties but, I'm ashamed to say, it's much easier writing from a psychopath's point of view than from that of their empathetic opposite.” WritingViewsNovelEasierOppositesDifficultyPoint Of ViewMonstersAshamedPsychopathEmpathetic Author:Justine Larbalestier
“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.” IfsWritingFirstsWholeLinesViewsNovelPoint Of ViewTitlesNonfictionDnaTenseVerbsSubplots 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?” FeelsShouldTryingFirstsWould BeBeliefLinesDecisionViewsNovelStruggleFiguresReaderBoringPoint Of ViewTitlesDna Author:Mary Kay Zuravleff
“Yes, there's a relaying of internal states that only a novel can achieve. In my view, the novel is one of Europe's greatest gifts to the world. America and Africa collaborated to give the world jazz. We'll call it even.” WorldGivingStatesAmericaViewsNovelAchieveEuropeJazzInternalsGreatest Gifts Author:Teju Cole