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Novel Quotes

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Novel Quotes

“I wonder if novels work for women because they give us a safe place to talk about our ish.”

Ifs Giving Wonder Novel Safe Safe Places

Author:Jennifer Weiner

“And this is the way a novel gets written, in ignorance, fear, sorrow, madness, and a kind of psychotic happiness as an incubator for the wonders being born.”

Way Kind Joy Born Wonder Novel Written Ignorance Sorrow Madness Psychotic

Book:Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac, 1947-1954

Source: Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac, 1947-1954

“Well, people have been wondering what's going to happen to the novel for two hundred years; its death has been announced many times. You know, I think the novel keeps redefining the world we live in. What you should look for in a novel is a window nobody else is looking out of, that nobody else can look through. What you look for is a voice. You pick up a novel by someone such as Faulkner or Hemingway and you just read three pages and you know who wrote it. And that's what one should demand of a novelist.”

People Thinking Knows World Should Years Wells Looks Has Beens Two Happens Three Voice Wonder Novel Demand Pages Picks Hundred Window Novelists Redefining

Author:Mordecai Richler

“Notable American Women is an enchanting and moving novel. Like Italo Calvino and Lewis Carrol, Ben Marcus reconfigures the world that we might see ourselves in a cultural and moral landscape that is disturbingly familiar, yet entirely new. As though granted a new beginning, Marcus renames the creatures of our world, questions who we are and who, as men and women, we might be. Notable American Women is a wonder book, pleasurable and provocative.”

Men World Book Might Moving Wonder Moral Novel Creatures Men And Women Familiar Granted Landscape Who We Are Our World New Beginnings Notable Provocative American Woman Enchanting

Author:Maureen Howard

“Gail Anderson-Dargatz has a noticing eye, a voice as unique as the countryside she writes about, and a heart large enough to love her entire cast of distinct and memorable characters. In The Cure for Death by Lightning she fashions an irresistible song out of the joys and dangers of growing up, the mysteries and wonders of life on a farm, the thrilling terror of trying to outrun the awful unseen force that pursues a growing girl. This novel opens a door to a shining, surprising world.”

“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

“I don't base my books on my life (thank goodness) and I don't pick the topic first. In fact, the topic picks me - via a question I can't answer as a mom, a wife, a woman, an American. I find myself wondering "What if..." and it blossoms into a whole novel.”

Ifs Firsts I Can Book Whole Facts Answers Wonder Novel Wife Mom Goodness Picks What If Topics Ifs And Pick Me Wondering What If

Author:Jodi Picoult

“Creating the characters is the most creative part of the novel except for the language itself. There I am, sitting in front of my computer in right-brain mode, typing the things that come to mind - which become the seeds of plot. It's scary, though, because I always wonder: Is it going to be there this time?”

Mind Character Language Brain Wonder Novel Creative Fronts Computer Creating Sitting Scary Seeds Plot Typing

Author:Elizabeth George

“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.”

Ifs Knows Writing Moments Difficult Realizing Simple Wonder Novel Path Fool Pure Solutions Logic Mathematics Carrie Evident Difficult Questions

Author:Don DeLillo

“I've been asked if I'd consider doing Ropes as a straight novel - which is flattering, I suppose - but I can't imagine why I'd want to limit myself that way. There's a certain immediacy we gain from that specific image of Fred being struck by a revelation, of those union workers appearing from the shadows in an alley, of a lonely woman wondering for just a moment if she should make a pass at this young man in her hotel room”

“For a really long time [before writing the novel], I was watching a lot of serial killer movies and I started to wonder if this was a trend and if other people were doing the same thing. That's what happens when you suddenly have a critical perspective on your own behavior.”

People Ifs Writing Long Happens Wonder Novel Perspective Behavior Long Time Critical Trends Killers Serials Serial Killer Really Long

Author:Lucy Corin

“I'm in that very preliminary stage of wondering how exactly to "pressurize" the novel in some way I've never considered before.”

Way Wonder Novel Stage

Author:Mark Leyner

“I do think that sports is really rich dramatically that, and this is kind of a self-serving thing to say, but I wonder why there aren't more, better sports novels.”

Thinking Kind Self Sports Wonder Novel Rich Serving Self Serving

Author:Chad Harbach

“It's true that the young who now flock to script writing, or producing and directing, to fulfill the demands of these new devices would, in an earlier period, have been submitting to magazines and working on their first novels. But even in the midst of all these "digital products," the wonder of it is that there are still so many young writers who continue to believe in the venerable print novel as the corridor to fame and fortune.”

Writing Firsts Believe Has Beens Stills Young Wonder Novel Products Periods Fame Demand Fortune Scripts Magazines Digital Midst Devices Print Flocks Corridors Young Writers

Author:Cynthia Ozick

“When I first went to Pittsburgh, I had never been there before, and we hadn't even decided to shoot there yet. I just went to see the location of Michael Chabon's novel. Once there, I became aware that Pittsburgh is a "wonder boy," in the narrow sense of the term, just as the human characters are.”

Firsts Humans Character Term Wonder Boys Novel Decided Location Pittsburgh

Author:Curtis Hanson

“I thought, "If I could bring these characters [Wonder Boys] to life and lead the audience to react the same way I did, this could be a really special picture." Then I read Michael's [Chabon] novel and got even more enthusiastic about it.”

Ifs Way Character Wonder Boys Novel Audience Special If I Could Enthusiastic

Author:Curtis Hanson