Best novel & writing Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 6

Source: Discontent and its Civilizations: Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London

“Novel writing is the slowest art form in the world. It is not a sprint. It is not even a marathon. It is a series of marathons that stretch over and over across a continent.”

World Writing Art Form Novel Series Continents Marathon Novel Writing Sprint

Author:Mohsin Hamid

“To write a novel may be pure pleasure. To live a novel presents certain difficulties. As for reading a novel, I do my best to get out of it.”

Writing May Certain Reading Pleasure Novel Pure Difficulty

Book:Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

Source: Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

“Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet once in a bar very late at night, but do not enter into relations. But not for the novel.”

People Writing Stories Night Novel Late Relation Technique Bars Short Story

Author:W. H. Auden

“Most gothics are overplotted novels whose success or failure hinges on the author's ability to make you believe in the characters and partake of the mood.”

Writing Believe Character Ability Novel Mood Gothic Hinges Success Or Failure

Book:Danse Macabre

Source: Danse Macabre

“I think being an editor really helped me take other people's notes on my writing. I'd get a note like 'It's too wet' or 'The first couple chapters are good, but then the rest of the pages were so wet that they were completely illegible' or 'Did you dip this in Sprite? This smells like Sprite. Why would you dip your novel in Sprite?' And instead of pushing back, I'd listen. That's an incredibly important skill for a young writer to have.”

People Thinking Writing Firsts Important Young Novel Couple Skills Pages Notes Smell Pushing Editors Wet Chapters Dip Young Writers Pushing Back

Author:Toni Morrison

“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.”

“I've found that writing novels is an all-absorbing experience - both physical and mental - and I have to do it every day in order to keep the rhythm, to keep myself focused on what I'm doing.”

Writing Order Found Novel Focused Rhythm Absorbing

Author:Paul Auster

“Having been an editor for more than a decade, I thought I had a good idea of how much work was involved in writing a novel. I was wrong! Writing is a lot harder than I ever imagined - but worth it.”

Writing Ideas Novel Involved Harder Decades Editors Good Ideas Worth It

Author:Julie Klassen

“Whether it's a letter, song lyrics, part of a novel, or instructions on how to fix a kitchen sink, it's writing. You keep your craft honed, you acquire the discipline to finish things. You turn into a self-taskmaster.”

Writing Self Song Turns Novel Discipline Letters Crafts Kitchen Acquire Instruction Kitchen Sinks

Author:Jimmy Buffett

“There's nothing worse than sitting down to write a novel and saying, "Well, okay, I'm going to do something of high artistic worth." It's funny.”

Writing Wells Novel Sitting Okay Artistic Worth It Sitting Down

Author:Douglas Adams

“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.”

Writing Whole Stories Order Three Next Bits Novel Four Paper Pages Picks Filled Cards Gaps Chapters Consecutive

Author:Vladimir Nabokov

“After the first shock of recognition - a sudden sense of "this is what I'm going to write" - the novel starts to breed by itself; the process goes on solely in the mind, not on paper. I feel a kind of gentle development, an uncurling inside, and I know that the details are there already, that in fact I would see them plainly if I looked closer, but I prefer to wait until what is loosely called inspiration has completed the task for me.”

Ifs Knows Feels Writing Mind Firsts Kind Facts Inspiration Waiting Process Novel Goes On Development Paper Tasks Details Recognition Gentle Shock

Author:Vladimir Nabokov

“Anywhere in New York, anywhere in the country, somewhere there's going to be a Coke sign. People identify with Coke. You can write a novel about New York and people from the country will read it if they feel that you've made them familiar with New York.”

People Ifs Feels Writing Made Country Novel New York Familiar Coke

Book:Bare bones: conversations on terror with Stephen King

Source: Bare bones: conversations on terror with Stephen King

“By writing a horror novel where this inexplicable disorder takes over in our ordered lives, you make order look better by comparison. But below that, there's a part of us that responds to the Who bashing their instruments to pieces on the stage. There's a very primitive part that says, "Do it some more."”

Writing Looks Order Novel Pieces Stage Horror Instruments Comparison Disorder Primitive Inexplicable

Book:Bare bones: conversations on terror with Stephen King

Source: Bare bones: conversations on terror with Stephen King

“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.”

Thinking Way Want Writing Trying Stories Shows Feelings Wanted Interesting Novel Pages I Realized Short Story Screenplays Monologues Interesting Ways Writing Short Writing Short Stories

Author:Shane Carruth

“I'm a privileged person, I feel privileged because of who I am. I write books, I write novels, I write essays and I teach and I go from university to university. I'm one of the old, but I still go around, but I only see those who are not like that, I don't see the junk youth. I only meet students, and even those who are not formally at the university, if they come to listen to me, they come to read me, it means they are not junk students.”

Ifs Feels Writing Mean Persons Stills Book Teach Novel Youth Students University Who I Am Privileged Essays Junk Listen To Me

Author:Elie Wiesel

“People didn't know certain things about me, which... I was out of creative writing class in school, Syracuse University; had a B.A. in English and wanted to write the great American novel but I also loved rock and roll. I was in bar bands all through college, playing fraternities and have to know all the songs in the top 10. That kind of thing.”

“Fiction writing is an act of imagination, lived experience is secondary in many ways, writing a novel really is all about inventing worlds and people.”

People World Way Writing Imagination Fiction Novel Inventing Fiction Writing

Author:Ayana Mathis

“I've published over 100 books - and that is divided about 50/50 adult and young adult. Lately, I have been writing more YA, which is such a great genre to write it. I don't have a favourite (I usually say it's the last book I've written), but certain books do stick in the mind. My very first YA novel, The Children of Lir, will always be special to me, and, of course The Alchemyst because it was a series I'd wanted to write for ages.”

Writing Mind Firsts Children Has Beens Book Age Wanted Lasts Young Certain Courses Novel Written Special Adults Sticks Series Young Adult Genre Divided Favourite Special To Me

Author:Michael Scott

“My advice is to write about what you are interested in. If you read science fiction and fantasy, then write in that genre. If you read romance novels, then try writing one.”

Ifs Writing Trying Romance Fiction Fantasy Novel Advice Science Fiction Genre Romance Novel Science Fiction And Fantasy

Author:Michael Scott

“If I'm writing a novel, I'll probably get up in the morning, do email, perhaps blog, deal with emergencies, and then be off novel-writing around 1.00pm and stop around 6.00pm. And I'll be writing in longhand, a safe distance from my computer. If I'm not writing a novel, there is no schedule, and scripts and introductions and whatnot can find themselves being written at any time and on anything.”

Ifs Writing Deals Morning Novel Written Safe Computer Distance Scripts Get Up Schedules Email Emergencies Introduction Blogs Novel Writing

Author:Neil Gaiman

“I like horror, but I tend to like it as seasoning. I'd get very bored if I was told I had to write a horror novel. I'd love to write a novel with horror elements, but too much, and it doesn't taste of anything else.”

Ifs Writing Novel Too Much Taste Horror Elements Bored Seasoning

Author:Neil Gaiman

“That was always my hope that that is exactly what I would do. It was always part of the dream of this story - to write the novel and then direct the movie.”

Writing Stories Dream Novel Direct

Author:Stephen Chbosky

“Writing a novel is a lot like directing a movie because you are creating a world and a tone, you are creating a large canvas and all the details.”

World Writing Novel Creating Details Tone Canvas

Author:Stephen Chbosky

“It's difficult for me to have a large story, a very large story - a novel is a large story. I'm used to writing and doing these little miniature paintings.”

Writing Littles Stories Used Difficult Novel Painting Miniatures

Author:Sandra Cisneros

“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”

People Knows Writing Helping Stories Use Courses Term Careers Novel Know How Information Grateful Meaningful Help Me Screenplays Writing Stories

Author:Donald Miller

“Before I studied story, I was trying to write a novel, and it was terrible. It wasn't going anywhere, and I couldn't figure out what I was trying to do. It was really hard; much harder than I thought it was going to be. Now that I've studied story, I think I'd have a different approach and maybe I could actually get it done.”

Thinking Writing Trying Different Hard Done Stories Novel Figures Terrible Approach Harder Get It Done Different Approach

Author:Donald Miller

“As to my writing short pieces, there are two reasons I can give you. The first is my invincible laziness. The second is that I've always been fond of short stories, and it always took me some trouble to get through a novel.”

Giving Writing Firsts I Can Two Reason Stories Novel Pieces Trouble Short Story Laziness Invincible Writing Short

Author:Jorge Luis Borges

“You need to learn to write on demand, and to get critiqued without flinching. When someone can rip your work to shreds without it feeling as though your arm has been hacked off, you're ready to send your novel off to an agent.”

Needs Writing Has Beens Feelings Novel Ready Arms Demand Agents Rip Hacked

Author:Jodi Picoult

“I don't write the same book over and over - I think if I did that, I would stop writing. I couldn't write a series with the same character, and I couldn't write a romance novel over and over again that takes place at a different beach every year. That's not who I am.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Years Book Different Character Romance Novel Series Who I Am Beach Romance Novel

Author:Jodi Picoult

“Writing is the main gig and teaching and performing are sidelines, an excuse for not writing more. Working on a novel and on an opera make me seriously want to retire and find a volunteer job as a docent at the zoo explaining to schoolchildren where frogs go in the winter.”

Want Writing Jobs Novel Teaching Winter Excuse Performing Retiring Opera Volunteer Explaining Gigs Frogs Zoos Sidelines Docents

Author:Garrison Keillor

“I don't think I ever intended specifically to write for the young adult market. It's just that when the idea for City of Bones came to me, I knew the main characters were teenagers. In my mind they were just very clearly the ages they were, which turned out to mean it was a YA novel.”

Thinking Writing Mind Mean Ideas Character Age Young Cities Novel Adults Young Adult Bones Teenager Main Characters

Author:Cassandra Clare

“I am drawn to writing books about magic and the supernatural because those are the types of books I like to read. I've written many short stories with realistic settings, and I certainly wouldn't rule out realistic novels in the future!”

Writing Book Stories Novel Written Magic Type Setting Settings Realistic Short Story Writing A Book

Author:Cassandra Clare

“When I write a novel, I have what I think of as an icon that helps get me into the world of the book.”

Thinking World Writing Book Helping Novel Icons

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I'm boggled by the idea of being an only child. I know nothing at all (I'm happy to say) about having had a cold and withholding mother, about being divorced. The more I've been writing novels, each novel I've written has become successively less grounded in anything approaching autobiography.”

Knows Writing Children Ideas Mother Novel Written Cold Autobiography Grounded Divorced Only Child Withholding

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I don't really read what people write about me. Someone gives my novel one star; are they a troll? Are they someone who hates my politics and so has decided to do that?”

People Giving Writing Hate Stars Novel Decided Troll

Author:Anna Quindlen

“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.”

People Thinking Giving Writing Important Sometimes Matter Jobs Easy Sound Simple Novel One Thing Giving Up Important Things Keep Going Discouraged Distracted Easy To Get

Author:Sarah Dessen

“I don't talk about my books while I'm writing them: not even my husband knows what a novel's about until it's done.”

Knows Writing Book Done Novel Husband My Husband

Author:Sarah Dessen

“The inspiration for my novels comes from the depths of a creative well, based on asking myself questions over and over. I try to write something different each time I sit down to write; I try to surprise the readers.”

Writing Trying Wells Different Inspiration Novel Creative Reader Asking Surprise Depth

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“I'm a novelist at heart. My sole intention is to write the best novel possible. I don't think about the film potential at all.”

Thinking Writing Heart Film Novel Intention Novelists Sole Best Novel

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“I myself love to read those Victorian novels which go on and on, and you don't read them in one sitting. You might read one over the course of a summer, but that isn't what I want to write.”

Want Writing Might Courses Novel Goes On Self Love Summer Sitting Victorian Love To Read

Author:Joan Didion

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”

People Should Writing Character Powerful Novel Caricatures Writing Fiction Great Writing Inspiring Writing Writing Workshop

Book:Death in the Afternoon

Source: Death in the Afternoon

“It's rather useless to write a gripping narrative with nothing in it but climate change because novels are always about people even if they purport to be about rabbits or robots.”

People Ifs Writing Novel Climate Climate Change Useless Narrative Robots Rabbits Gripping

Author:Margaret Atwood

“As a teenager, I wanted to write novels. By college, it was theater, plays, and then, shortly, it was film.”

Writing Play Wanted Film Novel College Theater Teenager

Author:Richard Linklater

“Many great authors of the 19th century wrote under conditions of strict censorship. The great thing about the art of writing a novel, is that you can write about anything. All you have to say is that it's fiction.”

Writing Art Fiction Novel Conditions Century Great Things Censorship Strict 19th Century Art Of Writing Great Author

Author:Orhan Pamuk

“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.”

World Way Want Writing Stories Political Situation Novel Strange Perspective Horror Creating Concern Communicate Monsters Embedded Surrealism Horror Stories

Author:China Mieville

“It's just the garbage in/garbage out trick. If you're not taking any fiction in, good or bad, then how can you be spitting any back out (good or bad)? I can't even imagine trying to write without reading. Really, I can hardly write a novel at all if I'm not reading just book after book.”

Ifs Writing Trying I Can Book Reading Fiction Novel Imagine Tricks Garbage

Author:Stephen Graham Jones

“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.”

“Characters simply come and find me. They sit down, I offer them a coffee. They tell me their story and then they almost always leave. When a character, after drinking some coffee and briefly telling her story, wants dinner and then a place to sleep and then breakfast and so on, for me the time has come to write the novel.”

Want Writing Character Stories Sleep Novel Offers Drinking Dinner Coffee Breakfast Find Me

Author:Dacia Maraini

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