My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position,… — Edward Abbey Copy Share Image
You hear the best stories from ordinary people. That sense of immediacy is more real to me than a lot of writerly,… — Chuck Palahniuk Copy Share Image
A Good Soldier is one of my favorite novels, for various reasons. But the class question is a good one, because it's… — Matthew Specktor Copy Share Image
I was very influenced by The Magic Mountain. It's a book that had a huge impact on me. I loved that as… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“I think all artists struggle to represent the geometry of life in their own way, just like writers deal with archetypes. There… — Henry Mosquera Copy Share Image
“I don't believe in writer's block. Who can function working seven days a week at at job. It's the same with writing.… — Lillian R. Melendez Copy Share Image
The careful choice of words, the scrubbing of language, the calculated images we presented to the external audiences - those were all… — Dave Abrams Copy Share Image
The monotony of staying in one place is the best thing for writing a novel. Having regular habits, a kind of security,… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
“My breath is halted, like grasping for air after crying far too long and hard. It is like a hiccup, with a… — Joseph McGinnis Copy Share Image
Our rate of progress is such that an individual human being, of ordinary length of life, will be called on to face… — Alfred North Whitehead Copy Share Image
When I am writing a novel, though, then it's usually three or four hours a day. Ideally, right after lunch until three… — Stephen Graham Jones Copy Share Image
I'm not entirely sure what a historical novel absolutely has to be, but you don't want a reader who loves a very… — Danielle Dutton Copy Share Image
As a kid, I dreamt of becoming a writer. My most exciting pastime was reading novels; in fact, I would read anything… — Maryam Mirzakhani Copy Share Image
Most contemporary novels are not really "written." They obtain what reality they have largely from an accurate rendering of the noises that… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
In some ways I spend longer at non-fiction because there are a lot of different threads to bring together. But non-fiction is… — Helen Humphreys Copy Share Image
“Međutim, onaj ko ne voli pripadnike drugih naroda, ne voli, naglasio sam, ni svoj narod, te ako kažem da ne volim strance,… — David Albahari Copy Share Image
When I wrote 'The Pregnant Widow' three or four years ago, I tried to reread my first novel, 'The Rachel Papers,' because… — Martin Amis Copy Share Image
At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know… — Elmore Leonard Copy Share Image
It is simply much easier to infuse life, feeling, and higher truth into a novel than a non-fiction work, to find the… — Jon Weisman Copy Share Image
By combining chemical, biochemical and physical techniques, it has thus become possible to investigate the nature of enzymic catalysis in a novel… — John Cornforth Copy Share Image
Even if I couldn't get my early novels published, I could still write. I went into newspapers, where I got paid to… — Linwood Barclay Copy Share Image
Through their capacity to manipulate symbols and to engage in reflective thought, people can generate novel ideas and innovative actions that transcend… — Albert Bandura Copy Share Image
I don't begin a novel until I have written, not just the last sentence, but usually, as a result thereof, many of… — John Irving Copy Share Image
It's only a drawback in the States, where most people seem to have no real interest in other countries and the notion… — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
I write short stories when a little idea occurs to me, that I know isn't a part of a novel that will… — Roddy Doyle Copy Share Image
Of course I planned to write the Great American Novel; that lasted about a week, at which point I decided I had… — Jasmine Cresswell Copy Share Image
You always try to do your own thing. One of the things I wanted to do was to write a book that… — George R. R. Martin Copy Share Image
To a man who is uncorrupt and properly constituted, woman always remains something of a mystery and a romance. He never interprets… — James Parton Copy Share Image
There's something really nice about writing something on Wednesday and watching it being performed live for a studio audience on Tuesday. You… — Jennifer Weiner Copy Share Image
Before I write the first page of a novel, I spend a long time creating detailed backgrounds for my characters. I imagine… — Lisa Kleypas Copy Share Image
“I'm gonna sit around here, stay away from there I'm gonna make pretend I just don't care. I could get up, go… — Atul Purohit Copy Share Image
Harmonious words render ordinary ideas acceptable; less ordinary, pleasant; novel and ingenious ones, delightful. As pictures and statues, and living beauty, too,… — Walter Savage Landor Copy Share Image
When a colleague of mine had a notable New York Times book, I said, turn one of the chapters in the collection… — Julianna Baggott Copy Share Image
The things that the novel does not say are necessarily more numerous than those it does say and only a special halo… — Italo Calvino Copy Share Image
Frank Morley, who had worked in London at Faber and Faber, was the new head of Harcourt Brace, and he hired me… — Robert Giroux Copy Share Image
The short story, free from the longuers of the novel is also exempt from the novel's conclusiveness--too often forced and false: it… — Edith Wharton Copy Share Image
Your life story is a novel; and people, though they love novels wound between two yellow paper covers, are oddly suspicious of… — Alexandre Dumas Copy Share Image
If politicians can't do it, I want to do it. We have to do it. Artists, put it in paintings. Poets, put… — Michael Jackson Copy Share Image
I have said that each aspect of the novel demands a different quality of the reader. Well, the prophetic aspect demands two… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
I enjoy both TV writing and novel writing, and they are very similar. The goal is to entertain and amuse the audience,… — Jonathan Ames Copy Share Image
