My novels are high concept. I guess big ideas interest me more than, say, the minutiae of domestic life. — Scarlett Thomas Copy Share Image
“I’ve only been to jail a few times, but in several different countries, at that. No, I've only been to jail a… — Roman Payne Copy Share Image
“Short stories force us to keep our distance from the characters; novels bring us closer to them.” — David Mikics Copy Share Image
“I read novels to indulge in a concentrated and directed inner activity that parallels -- and thereby tunes up, accentuates -- my… — Sven Birkerts Copy Share Image
“Honesty is vulnerability. Sadly, not everyone can handle someone’s honesty. However, lying allows people to be comfortable.” — Shannon L. Alder Copy Share Image
I always wanted to write novels, even before I had read a lot of novels or had a very good idea of… — Elif Batuman Copy Share Image
I try to stick with what moves me or teaches me about myself, same thing I hope the novels do for others. — Wally Lamb Copy Share Image
I've read about eight or ten of the original novels, and one of them is where Maigret's in bed for the entire… — Rowan Atkinson Copy Share Image
My novels are never truly finished, even if they're published and sitting on the shelf. While I may no longer be interested… — Jillian Medoff Copy Share Image
There's no such thing as the contemporary novel. Before I seem the complete reactionary, let me add that I've happily joined in… — Graham Swift Copy Share Image
“A novel is not an allegory, I said as the period was about to come to an end. It is the sensual… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties." (Interview… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I do not think novels are necessarily more worthwhile than games. A novel can be a trivial waste of time, and a… — Allegra Goodman Copy Share Image
If you read novels of the 19th century, they're pretty experimental. They take lots of chances; they seem to break a lot… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
Well-written novels make you more empathetic towards other people. You can identify with someone who isn't you. You can change your identity.… — Olga Tokarczuk Copy Share Image
I feel very strongly that where the facts exist, a historical novelist should use them if they're writing about a person who… — Alison Weir Copy Share Image
“That's the pleasure and challenge of reading great novels; you get to see yourself as others see you and you get to… — John Green Copy Share Image
I give people 'If You Came Softly' when they demand proof that novels for teens can be as good as the best… — Justine Larbalestier Copy Share Image
The best novels are those that are important without being like medicine; they have something to say, are expansive and intelligent but… — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Copy Share Image
I was writing all my childhood. And I wrote two novels when I was 17, which were terrible. And I'm not sorry… — Doris Lessing Copy Share Image
My dad was always such a frustrated artist. He always worked very hard to support his family, doing a bunch of ridiculous… — Rainn Wilson Copy Share Image
My early novels were very understated and English. Fourteen years ago, I met and married my American husband, and as I learned… — Laurie Graham Copy Share Image
I bristle at the implication that only with the help of a Big Six editor does a novel lose its self-indulgent aspects.… — Jennifer Armintrout Copy Share Image
“You don’t know that my books do good?’ ‘No, I don’t know. I know that men are already getting past “novels” without… — M.P. Shiel Copy Share Image
Size matters in fiction, but so does lack of size. Everything else being equal, fat novels tend to be perceived as serious,… — Walter Kirn Copy Share Image
Consensus wisdom has it that all modern commercial fantasy novels fall into two camps: those derived from J.R.R. Tolkien and those derived… — Paul Di Filippo Copy Share Image
I always read a lot as a kid and I'd spend long periods of time in my room reading... I wasn't reading… — Michael Riedel Copy Share Image
I picked up 'The Hunger Games' thinking it was written at my regressed reading level. I've spent hours reading it, and I'm… — Nate Ruess Copy Share Image
I tend to write longer narrative pieces after I've finished writing a novel - when the fiction's finished and put away, and… — Dinaw Mengestu Copy Share Image
“There are two novels that can transform a bookish 14-year-kid’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
I always figure there are novels and short stories, and in those, I'm God. No one tells me what to do. I… — Neil Gaiman Copy Share Image
Freedom to tell any story I want, with all the imaginary tools of my trade, is why I love writing novels. I… — Marjorie Liu Copy Share Image
Novels ought to have hope; at least, American novels ought to have hope. French novels don't need to. We mostly win wars,… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I like to take people you wouldn't really think people would write novels about: an aqueduct engineer, a code-breaker, a hedge-fund manager.… — Robert Harris Copy Share Image
There are people who say they want to write novels. They think, 'I'll learn my craft on the romance novel.' If you… — Julia Quinn Copy Share Image
When I meet children at book signings, they'll bring me photos of when I first met them many years ago when they… — Grace Lin Copy Share Image
These are all novels, all about people that never existed, the people that read them it makes them unhappy with their own… — Ray Bradbury Copy Share Image
Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the… — John Green Copy Share Image
I like dialogue in novels. I wanted to avoid laying history on with a trowel - appearing to be lecturing, as opposed… — Elliot Perlman Copy Share Image
“Most of my novels were developped from dreams I had. A dreamer I AM! Literally , at 1 AM. A dream with… — Ana Claudia Antunes Copy Share Image
