Good novel is a conjunction of many factors, the main of which is, without a doubt, hard work. There are many things… — Mario Vargas Llosa Copy Share Image
With Ibrahim al-Koni, what I figured out was - and you'll see this in his novels - if your time is limited,… — Elliott Colla Copy Share Image
The place that does Contain my books, the best companions, is To me a glorious court, where hourly I Converse with the,… — John William Fletcher Copy Share Image
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… — Stephen Graham Jones Copy Share Image
Maybe there is no better novel in the world than Denton Welch's In Youth Is Pleasure. Just holding it in my hands,… — John Waters Copy Share Image
“This is the paradox presented by every general library: that if, to a lesser or greater extent, it intends to accumulate and… — Alberto Manguel Copy Share Image
My mother wanted me to be a writer. But she was a child of the Depression and never understood that she wasn't… — Richard Greenberg Copy Share Image
Reading is awesome and flexible and fits around chores and earning money and building the future and whatever else I’m doing that… — Jo Walton Copy Share Image
In the wake of her indispensable textbook, Janet Burroway now offers a splendid and concise guide to the thorny task of revision.… — Margot Livesey Copy Share Image
“Reading is a technology for perspective-taking. When someone else’s thoughts are in your head, you are observing the world from that person’s… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Writing is a lonely job. Even if a writer socializes regularly, when he gets down to the real business of his life,… — Isaac Asimov Copy Share Image
“My best advice is to first write for yourself and stay in your story and just pour all of your good stuff… — Jenny Han Copy Share Image
You know what needs to be done when you're a writer. You know what the job is, particularly if you're an African… — James McBride Copy Share Image
My writing, like everything I do, comes profoundly from my heart. I believe that if you follow your heart you will be… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
I started out writing when I was young; stuff about exposing the truth about how people are not what they appear, about… — Mike White Copy Share Image
“Good writers may “tell” about almost anything in fiction except the characters’ feelings. One may tell the reader that the character went… — John Gardner Copy Share Image
Stand-up can take you in so many different places, man. So many doors can be opened up from stand-up comedy, and the… — Kevin Hart Copy Share Image
I have read that, when you are writing or working on something creative, and your attention wanders, your brain is processing and… — Romesh Ranganathan Copy Share Image
“Don't for once ever think that what you're doing is easy. If it feels that way, you're probably doing something wrong. Throwing… — Allison M. Dickson Copy Share Image
I think that's just what happens when you write a big bestseller. After that you need to find out: What's the best… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share Image
I like a novel to have a certain amount of dead time and filler - unremarkable scenery, descriptions of getting from point… — Elif Batuman Copy Share Image
“And books! ...she would buy them all over and over again; she would buy up every copy, I believe, to prevent their… — Jane Austen Copy Share Image
“Jim Lindeman made a comment in the group The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group — Foreign Detective Fiction topic ""No person or… — Jo Nesbø Copy Share Image
If you read only the best, you will have no need of reading the other books, because the latter are nothing but… — Anna Brackett Copy Share Image
I sometimes read about authors who say they require a perfectly silent room maintained at precisely 68 degrees, with trash bags taped… — Jennifer Weiner Copy Share Image
When the writing is going well, I'm obsessive. I don't shower, I don't take phone calls, I hardly respond to text messages,… — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Copy Share Image
“The phrase “slow reading” goes back at least as far as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who in 1887 described himself as a… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
Roth Unbound is filled with intelligent readings and smart judgments. Because of the author's sympathy and sharp mind, it offers real insight… — Colm Toibin Copy Share Image
Writers, like most human beings, are adaptable creatures. They can learn to accept subordination without growing fond of it. No writer can… — Rod Serling Copy Share Image
“[Referring to passage by Alice Munro] Finally, the passage contradicts a form of bad advice often given young writers -- namely, that… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
Because, as we know, almost anything can be read into any book if you are determined enough. This will be especially impressed… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
To me experimental fiction ultimately is about the experiment and I'm not interested in experiments for their own sake, and if anything… — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
The book must of necessity be put into a bookcase. And the bookcase must be housed. And the house must be kept.… — William E. Gladstone Copy Share Image
Structure that really pays off is all based on emotion. I don't write down an elaborate plan. It's really done by feel.… — Graham Swift Copy Share Image
“It had a crisp paper jacket, unlike the paper-covered library books I was used to, and the way the pages parted, I… — Allison Hoover Bartlett Copy Share Image
“I ask for tons of notebooks for my birthday, the ones with college ruled lines, and I carry them with me, pretend… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“The thing [Henry James'] novel is about is always there. It is like a church lit but without a congregation to distract… — H.G. Wells Copy Share Image
Okay, this is Fran Lebowitz. She gave an interview once for the Paris Review about trying to write fiction and saying that… — Sloane Crosley Copy Share Image
A good book is the very essence of a good man. His virtues survive in it, while the foibles and faults of… — Theodore L. Cuyler Copy Share Image
I reach readers rather unintentionally, I think, and those readers likely connect with the slant, the off-kilter, the part of the road… — Dawn Lundy Martin Copy Share Image
![“[Referring to passage by Alice Munro] Finally, the passage contradicts a form of bad advice often given young writers -- namely, that the job of the author is to show, not tell. Needless to say, many great novelists combine "dramatic" showing with long sections of the flat-out authorial narration…” quote by Francine Prose](https://sms4smile.com/q/i/4fb/francine-prose-9354_bad-advice_referring-to-passage-by-alice-munro-fina_1081030.jpg)
![“The thing [Henry James'] novel is about is always there. It is like a church lit but without a congregation to distract you, with every light and line focused on the high altar. And on the altar, very reverently placed, intensely there, is a dead kitten, an egg-shell, a bit of string.” quote by H.G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/q/i/19f/h-g-wells-2-1299_books_the-thing-henry-james-novel-is-about-is_138893.jpg)
