“Even if I couldn't get my early novels published, I could still write. I went into newspapers, where I got paid to write every day. If there's a better school for would-be novelists, I don't know what it is.” IfsKnowsWritingStillsWould BeSchoolNovelPaidNewspapersNovelists Author:Linwood Barclay
“Novelists and poets have existed side by side forever.” SidesForeverPoetNovelists Author:Stan Brakhage
“I think, in common with a lot of novelists, I wasn't the most athletic guy at school.” ThinkingSchoolGuyCommonNovelistsAthletic Author:Chris Cleave
“I'm always determined that as a novelist I'm going to go out there and research my characters very thoroughly before I start writing.” WritingCharacterResearchDeterminedNovelists Author:Chris Cleave
“So, how to stay inside the world of entertainment without actually getting another job? I felt the only logical answer was to become a novelist. So I wrote the first book - driven by some very real feelings of desperation - and it worked.” WorldFirstsBookRealFeelingsJobsFeltAnswersEntertainmentDrivenNovelistsLogicalDesperationReal Feelings Author:Lee Child
“Novelists are always resisting autobiographical readings of their work, because they know how false those can be.” KnowsWritingReadingKnow HowNovelistsResisting Author:Jeffrey Eugenides
“All my siblings became artists. One's a novelist, my brother is a painter, my sister was a costume designer.” ArtistBrotherPainterNovelistsMy BrotherDesignerMy SisterCostumesSiblingMy Siblings Author:Caio Fonseca
“My greatest fear is feeling like a professional novelist. Somebody who creates characters, who sits down and has pieces of paper taped to the wall - what's going to happen in this scene, or this act. What I like is for it to be a much more scary, sloppy reflection of who I am.” CharacterFeelingsHappensPiecesWallScenePaperReflectionDown AndScaryWho I AmNovelistsSloppyGreatest Fear Author:Jonathan Safran Foer
“We all now tell stories by cutting from one dramatic scene to the next, whereas Victorian novelists felt free to write long passages of undramatic summary.” WritingLongStoriesNextFeltCuttingSceneNovelistsDramaticPassagesVictorianSummary Author:Ken Follett
“Before I became a suspense novelist, I wrote romantic suspense as Alicia Scott.” SuspenseNovelistsSuspense Novels Author:Lisa Gardner
“And I didn't grow up wanting to be a director. I grew up wanting to be a writer, so for me, that was always the goal - to be a novelist, not a screenwriter. And I think, again, if I didn't have the novels, maybe I'd be much more frustrated by not having directed yet.” IfsThinkingGrowsGoalNovelGrowing UpGrewDirectorsGrew UpNovelistsFrustratedScreenwriters Author:David Benioff
“The idea of being a novelist is really romantic, but it's kind of the same as being president of the United States - it's not gonna happen.” KindIdeasStatesHappensPresidentUnitedUnited StatesNovelistsReally Romantic Author:Richard Paul Evans
“As far as he can achieve it, readability is as important for the scientific writer as it is for the novelist.” ImportantScienceAchieveNovelistsPublication Author:Donald O. Hebb
“I don't mind when people are telling me about their 1971 Firebird, but it's the same thing as people telling me about their car or something. It's fine if you have an interest. By talking with me, though, you could be interviewing a novelist about guitars. It's the same thing, except I don't write that well either.” PeopleIfsWritingMindWellsInterestTalkingCarFineGuitarNovelists Author:Jonny Greenwood
“If a novelist has created vivid characters, interesting relationships, settings the reader can easily imagine, and intriguing stories, a screenwriter has loads to work with. The challenge comes with deciding what to cut and what to keep.” IfsCharacterStoriesChallengesInterestingCuttingImagineReaderSettingSettingsNovelistsLoadVividIntriguingScreenwriters Author:Seth Grahame-Smith
“All novels are about crime. You'd be hard pressed to find any novel that does not have an element of crime. I don't see myself as a crime novelist, but there are crimes in my books. That's the nature of storytelling, if you want to reflect the real world.” IfsWorldWantDoeBookRealHardNovelCrimeElementsStorytellingNovelistsReal World Author:Carl Hiaasen
“I'd defend the right for any novelist to experiment with form or language, but if people don't take to it, don't react by making out that they are thick.” PeopleIfsFormLanguageExperimentsNovelistsThick Author:Graham Joyce
“I always counsel aspiring novelists that passion is the most important quality for a writer to possess - technique can be taught, but that relentless desire to write has to come from within.” WritingImportantDesirePassionQualityTaughtTechniqueNovelistsRelentless Author:Lisa Kleypas