Novel Quotes - page 31

Before my first novel, I was dating a woman who later went to prison for bashing a guy with a hammer. (Gary Shteyngart)
My political position springs from my being a novelist. In so far as I am concerned, politics and the novel are an indivisible case and I can categorically state that I became politically committed because I am a novelist, not the opposite. View quote
Ghassan Kanafani
If you break things down to goodies and baddies, the baddies are always a bit more alluring in fiction, and that's true from a narrative point of view. But I wanted to write a novel about real life, and real life is a bit more nuanced than that. View quote
Gail Honeyman
I think the novel form chose me. I was a writer before I became a criminal... my first instinct was to write. View quote
Gregory David Roberts
A series of small but real accomplishments gives people the energy and confidence to continue. For instance, a person who wants to write a novel might resolve to write one sentence each day. Or a person who wants to start running might resolve to run for one minute. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
In terms of style, I think the memoirist should have a novelist's skill and all the elements of a novelist's toolbox. When I read a memoir, I want to really, deeply experience what the author experienced. I want to see the characters and hear the way they speak and understand how they think. And so in that way, writing a memoir feels similar to writing a novel. View quote
Danielle Trussoni
I believe a good memoir should have all of the narrative elements of a novel: character development, dialogue, descriptive language, and metaphor. View quote
Danielle Trussoni
I'd studied 16th century science and magic. I thought it was strange that people were interested in the same kinds of things my research was about. The more I thought about it, the more intriguing it became and pretty soon I was writing a novel about a reluctant witch and a 1500-year-old vampire. View quote
Deborah Harkness
A certain luxury when you get to writing a novel is to have the space to have your characters just banter. View quote
David Benioff
I wrote a novel for my degree, and I'm very happy I didn't submit that to a publisher. I sympathize with my professors who had to read it. View quote
David Eddings
People read vampire novels and say, 'Oh I want to read another vampire novel.' People read fantasy, and they're like, 'Oh I love fantasy.' I don't know that people are necessarily finishing 'Hunger Games' and immediately wanting to read another dystopian tale. (David Levithan)
I went with the old adage that you should write what you know. What I knew was 18th century Britain, so what I decided I would do is write a novel based on my dissertation research. View quote
David Liss
I still find it absurdly difficult to concentrate on a novel if there's a phone or computer to hand; I have taken to locking them outside the room like noisy pets. View quote
David Nicholls
But at the best of times she feels like a character in a Muriel Spark novel - independent, bookish, sharp-minded, secretly romantic. View quote
David Nicholls
I think in some ways what Snowden is, is he's a mix of a cold war spy novel and post-9/11 spy novel. View quote
Alex Berenson
Readers understand that the books celebrate female power. In the romance novel, the woman always wins. With courage, intelligence and gentleness she brings the most dangerous creature on the earth, the human male, to his knees. View quote
Jayne Ann Krentz
If you're writing a novel, you can afford to see where the spirit takes you, but in terms of structure and engineering with a screenplay, you have to be quite pragmatic; otherwise, it will run away from you. View quote
Jane Goldman
The main thing about the novel that is totally fascinating: It's not possessed by the writer; it's possessed by the reader. View quote
Jane Smiley
The desire to write a novel is the single required prerequisite for writing a novel. View quote
Jane Smiley
In the traditional urban novel, there is only survival or not. The suburban idea, the conformist idea, that agony can be seen to and cured by doctors or psychoanalysis or self-knowledge is nowhere to be found in the city. Talking is a way of life, but it is not a cure. Same with religion. View quote
Jane Smiley
When 'The Awakening' was published it was considered so scandalous it was banned in the author's home-town library, and she herself was barred from the Fine Arts Club in the same city. What the novel has to offer, among other things, is honesty. (Jane Smiley)
'Ape House' is an ambitious novel in several ways, for which it is to be admired, and it is certainly an easy read, but because Gruen is not quite prepared for the philosophical implications of her subject, it is not as deeply involving emotionally or as interesting thematically as it could be. View quote
Jane Smiley
Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel. View quote
Jane Smiley
Because I worked as a newspaper reporter for about 14 years before attempting my first novel, I learned to write under almost any circumstances- by candle light, in longhand, in African villages where there was no power, under shelling in Kurdistan. View quote
Geraldine Brooks
Getting 10,000 listeners for a free podcast novel is a lot easier than selling 10,000 hardcover novels at $25 a pop. View quote
Jeremy Robinson