--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Writing a novel is an act of…" description: "\"Writing a novel is an act of self-annihilation as much as self-discovery. You can kill whole appetites and flood whole depths while plumbing them, but ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce7/andrew-o-hagan-12635_annihilation_writing-a-novel-is-an-act-of-self-annihi_664115.jpg" --- # Writing a novel is an act of self-annihilation as much as… ![“Writing a novel is an act of self-annihilation as much as self-discovery. You can kill whole appetites and flood whole depths while plumbing them, but if you are serious about it you also get to put something into the world that wasn't quite there before.” quote by Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce7/andrew-o-hagan-12635_annihilation_writing-a-novel-is-an-act-of-self-annihi_664115.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce7/andrew-o-hagan-12635_annihilation_writing-a-novel-is-an-act-of-self-annihi_664115.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce7/andrew-o-hagan-12635_annihilation_writing-a-novel-is-an-act-of-self-annihi_664115.jpg) > “Writing a novel is an act of self-annihilation as much as self-discovery. You can kill whole appetites and flood whole depths while plumbing them, but if you are serious about it you also get to put something into the world that wasn't quite there before.” [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writing forces authors to confront and dissolve parts of themselves while uncovering new insights to share. **In simple terms:** Self‑destruction and discovery through writing. Key Takeaway Embrace vulnerability to create meaningful work. Themes creativity self‑exploration transformation literature psychology Mood introspective inspirational thought‑provoking Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing a novel - personal therapy - artistic projects - educational curricula Key Concepts Narrative identity catharsis ontological inquiry Questions to Reflect On - What parts of yourself must you let go to write? - How does this process change you? A Different Perspective Writing can be both a loss and a gain of self. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Annihilation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annihilation/) [Annihilation Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annihilation-self-1552242/) [Appetite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appetite/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Depth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/depth/) [Discovery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discovery/) [Flood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flood/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Plumbing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plumbing/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Self Annihilation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-annihilation-550029/) [Self discovery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-discovery/) [Serious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/serious/) [Something](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/something/) [Whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Writing Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-novel/) ## Related quotes > [Calculating selfishness is the annihilation of self.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/calculating-selfishness-is-the-annihilation-of-self/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [“Art can only progress towards its own self-annihilation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-appignanesi/art-can-only-progress-towards-its-own-self-annihilation/) [Richard Appignanesi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-appignanesi/) > [“Love is not an idea, not a feeling, not a sensation, not a sentiment, not a passion, not even an emotion. It is becoming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raheel-farooq/love-is-not-an-idea-not-a-feeling-not-a-sensation-not-a-sentiment-not/) [Raheel Farooq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raheel-farooq/) > [We are the first species capable of self-annihilation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elon-musk/we-are-the-first-species-capable-of-self-annihilation/) [Elon Musk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elon-musk/) > [“self-annihilation is necessary for high art”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kunal-sen/self-annihilation-is-necessary-for-high-art/) [Kunal Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kunal-sen/) > [I think most generations tend to learn the lesson of war the hard way. There is a deep attraction to the empowerment. Freud is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hedges/i-think-most-generations-tend-to-learn-the-lesson-of-war-the-hard-way/) [Chris Hedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hedges/) > [There is no birth, there is no death; there is no coming, there is no going; there is no same, there is no different;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nhat-hanh/there-is-no-birth-there-is-no-death-there-is-no-coming-there-is-no/) [Nhat Hanh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nhat-hanh/) > [“True deduction can only be obtained through a certain amount of self annihilation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-riggs/true-deduction-can-only-be-obtained-through-a-certain-amount-of-self/) [Joe Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-riggs/) > [Perhaps the greatest reading pleasure has an element of self-annihilation. To be so engrossed that you barely know you exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/perhaps-the-greatest-reading-pleasure-has-an-element-of-self/) [Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/) > [“True humility is a kind of self-annihilation; and this is the centre of all virtues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wesley/true-humility-is-a-kind-of-self-annihilation-and-this-is-the-centre/) [John Wesley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wesley/) > [“Unconditional love also includes—the ardent desire to be abused: at that point it is a defiance directed against itself, and out of its devotion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/unconditional-love-also-includes-the-ardent-desire-to-be-abused-at/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“This disappearance, this annihilation is all a matter of appearances as seen through the eyes of the false self. The annihilation is only apparent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/this-disappearance-this-annihilation-is-all-a-matter-of-appearances/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [“Drug cartels have taken the driver’s seat, training our young men and women on how best to self destruct, while the larger community watches…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oche-otorkpa/drug-cartels-have-taken-the-driver-s-seat-training-our-young-men-and/) [Oche Otorkpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oche-otorkpa/) > [Plumbing is usually boring.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-berenson/plumbing-is-usually-boring/) [Alex Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-berenson/) > [What really matters is getting new people in. The constitutional changes matter, but the thing that the party mustn't do is turn in on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/what-really-matters-is-getting-new-people-in-the-constitutional/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) ## More by Andrew O'Hagan > [The first rule of travel is that you should always go with someone you love, which is why I travel alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/the-first-rule-of-travel-is-that-you-should-always-go-with-someone/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [You'll find that no pride is greater than the pride that comes with being thick. Britain is filled with people who are really proud…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/you-ll-find-that-no-pride-is-greater-than-the-pride-that-comes-with/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [I always knew I would come to London. I loved Glasgow, but it seemed filled with echoes of my parents' lives, and sometimes you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/i-always-knew-i-would-come-to-london-i-loved-glasgow-but-it-seemed/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [Interviewing is not a democratic art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/interviewing-is-not-a-democratic-art/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [High culture isn't what it used to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/high-culture-isn-t-what-it-used-to-be/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [When you grow up by the sea, you spend a good deal of time looking at the horizon. You wonder what on Earth the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/when-you-grow-up-by-the-sea-you-spend-a-good-deal-of-time-looking-at/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [“But she was half in love with chaos... With all her yearning for the ordinary life, she was born to admire outsiders. You could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/but-she-was-half-in-love-with-chaos-with-all-her-yearning-for-the/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [Long before I was a writer, when I was just a haphazard reader and a dreamer of stories, I learnt about an influential book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/long-before-i-was-a-writer-when-i-was-just-a-haphazard-reader-and-a/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [Fans of football and fans of nationhood have a similar zeal. Read the fanzines: their contributors could find a needle-sized diss in a haystack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/fans-of-football-and-fans-of-nationhood-have-a-similar-zeal-read-the/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [It's not a crime not to know yourself. It's not a crime to send life away. It's just a shame.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/it-s-not-a-crime-not-to-know-yourself-it-s-not-a-crime-to-send-life/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [Art you can flush down the loo means nothing to me, even were the loo to be selected by Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/art-you-can-flush-down-the-loo-means-nothing-to-me-even-were-the-loo/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [I'm not interested in writers who are overcome with certainty, with single-mindedness, or with a sense of how consistent and morally upstanding they are.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/i-m-not-interested-in-writers-who-are-overcome-with-certainty-with/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [Long before the arrival of reality TV - before speed cameras, before recording angels on buses and lampposts - I felt I was living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/long-before-the-arrival-of-reality-tv-before-speed-cameras-before/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [Once upon a time, I thought that politics was the name we gave to our higher instincts. That was before Margaret Thatcher, who came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/once-upon-a-time-i-thought-that-politics-was-the-name-we-gave-to-our/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [Traveling alone offers the chance to test the limits of what you think you know about yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/traveling-alone-offers-the-chance-to-test-the-limits-of-what-you/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) [Explore all 54 Andrew O'Hagan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) ## More Annihilation quotes > [The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe... All is registered in the 'boundless heart' of the bodhisattva. Through our deepest and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/the-heart-that-breaks-open-can-contain-the-whole-universe-all-is/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health; that is, the lifting and annihilation of the disease in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-hahnemann/the-highest-ideal-of-cure-is-the-rapid-gentle-and-permanent/) [Samuel Hahnemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-hahnemann/) > [To fight is to face death once more, perhaps the total annihilation of their kind. But to run... is that not also a kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nalini-singh/to-fight-is-to-face-death-once-more-perhaps-the-total-annihilation-of/) [Nalini Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nalini-singh/) > [I'm not afraid of anything other than spiritual annihilation. Where your soul is sucked into the void.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crispian-mills/i-m-not-afraid-of-anything-other-than-spiritual-annihilation-where/) [Crispian Mills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crispian-mills/) > [“The breath had become as much a trick as breathing. Things were not dual merely, but multiple. I had become a cage of mirrors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/the-breath-had-become-as-much-a-trick-as-breathing-things-were-not/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,--when it did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-chopin/there-were-days-when-she-was-unhappy-she-did-not-know-why-when-it-did/) [Kate Chopin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-chopin/) > [I've crossed some kind of invisible line. I feel as if I've come to a place I never thought I'd have to come to.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-carver/i-ve-crossed-some-kind-of-invisible-line-i-feel-as-if-i-ve-come-to-a/) [Raymond Carver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-carver/) > [We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on it's vulnerable reserves of air and soil, all committed, for our safety, to it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adlai-e-stevenson/we-travel-together-passengers-on-a-little-spaceship-dependent-on-it-s/) [Adlai E. Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adlai-e-stevenson/) > [Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/liberty-is-to-faction-what-air-is-to-fire-an-aliment-without-which-it/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [Today I will once more be a prophet. If the international Jewish financiers, inside and outside Europe, succeed in plunging the nations once more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/today-i-will-once-more-be-a-prophet-if-the-international-jewish/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [“The edge of total annihilation wasn't the worst place to hide.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kit-rocha/the-edge-of-total-annihilation-wasn-t-the-worst-place-to-hide/) [Kit Rocha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kit-rocha/) > [To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/to-hope-is-to-give-yourself-to-the-future-and-that-commitment-to-the/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Annihilation is an absurdity in terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-palissy/annihilation-is-an-absurdity-in-terms/) [Bernard Palissy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-palissy/) > [Love is scary because it pulls you in with an intense force, a supermassive black hole which looks like nothing from the outside but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/love-is-scary-because-it-pulls-you-in-with-an-intense-force-a/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [I have issued the command, and I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad, that our war…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/i-have-issued-the-command-and-i-ll-have-anybody-who-utters-but-one/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) [Browse all 244 Annihilation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annihilation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Writing a novel is an act of self-annihilation as much as self-discovery. 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