--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Writing a successful novel is a great…" description: "\"“Writing a successful novel is a great challenge, and you have to be a bit of a poet, a bit of a critic, a bit of a dramatist, a bit of a philosopher, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24f/anis-shivani-107190_books_writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-ch_2697375.jpg" --- # Writing a successful novel is a great challenge, and you… ![“Writing a successful novel is a great challenge, and you have to be a bit of a poet, a bit of a critic, a bit of a dramatist, a bit of a philosopher, a bit of a social scientist, to pull it off.” quote by Anis Shivani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24f/anis-shivani-107190_books_writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-ch_2697375.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24f/anis-shivani-107190_books_writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-ch_2697375.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24f/anis-shivani-107190_books_writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-ch_2697375.jpg) > ““Writing a successful novel is a great challenge, and you have to be a bit of a poet, a bit of a critic, a bit of a dramatist, a bit of a philosopher, a bit of a social scientist, to pull it off.”” Anis Shivani ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Novel writing demands multiple intellectual roles, blending art and science. **In simple terms:** Writing a novel requires diverse skill sets. Key Takeaway Cultivate both creative and analytical abilities. Themes writing novel creativity analysis multidisciplinary Mood reflective motivational Type Books Philosophy Poet Poetry Science Success Writer Writing Successful Novel Writing Successful Dramatist Bit When to use this quote - creative workshops - academic courses - self‑reflection - peer review Key Concepts literary theory psychology of storytelling critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - How do different disciplines enrich novel writing? - What balance yields the best creative output? A Different Perspective Risk of diluting focus by juggling too many roles. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“Writing is successful schizophrenia because I’m paid to hear voices in my head.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/writing-is-successful-schizophrenia-because-i-m-paid-to-hear-voices/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [It's essential to have sacred time for writing. All successful authors have some daily commitment to keep on-track and moving forward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dani-shapiro/it-s-essential-to-have-sacred-time-for-writing-all-successful-authors/) [Dani Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dani-shapiro/) > [The key to writing successful YA is to keep the adults out of the story as much as possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beverly-cleary/the-key-to-writing-successful-ya-is-to-keep-the-adults-out-of-the/) [Beverly Cleary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beverly-cleary/) > [But I wouldn't recommend writing. You can be a successful writer and never meet another soul. I'm not sure that's a good thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-g-ballard/but-i-wouldn-t-recommend-writing-you-can-be-a-successful-writer-and/) [J. G. Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-g-ballard/) > [The difficulty of writing a second novel is directly proportional to how successful the first novel was, it seems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khaled-hosseini/the-difficulty-of-writing-a-second-novel-is-directly-proportional-to/) [Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khaled-hosseini/) > [A successful novel should interrupt the reader’s life, make him or her miss appointments, skip meals, forget to walk the dog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/a-successful-novel-should-interrupt-the-reader-s-life-make-him-or-her/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [I'd been assured, at age 21 or so, by a well-known editor who saw the first part of The Secret History in what was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/i-d-been-assured-at-age-21-or-so-by-a-well-known-editor-who-saw-the/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [Identify the moral dilemma driving the novel. the successful novel will haunt a reader because it deals with some ethical or moral dilemma that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/identify-the-moral-dilemma-driving-the-novel-the-successful-novel/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [Only one novel is a novel: that is a successful novel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-golding/only-one-novel-is-a-novel-that-is-a-successful-novel/) [William Golding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-golding/) > [If experiments are performed thousands of times at all seasons and in every place without once producing the effects mentioned by your philosophers, poets,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/if-experiments-are-performed-thousands-of-times-at-all-seasons-and-in/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [There are certainly times in history where power associates itself closely with fields that we would call the humanities, like rulers surrounding themselves with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/there-are-certainly-times-in-history-where-power-associates-itself/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [“Without pain, poetry is not possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seerat/without-pain-poetry-is-not-possible/) seerat > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/) [Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/) > [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/) [Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/) ## More by Anis Shivani > [“What deserves my loyalty, art or prestige?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anis-shivani/what-deserves-my-loyalty-art-or-prestige/) Anis Shivani Explore all 2 Anis Shivani quotes ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. 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Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Writing a successful novel is a great challenge, and you have to be a bit of a poet, a bit of a critic, a bit of a dramatist, a bit of a philosopher, a bit of a social scientist, to pull it off.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anis Shivani" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anis-shivani/writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-challenge-and-you-have-to-be-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anis-shivani/writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-challenge-and-you-have-to-be-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24f/anis-shivani-107190_books_writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-ch_2697375.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24f/anis-shivani-107190_books_writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-ch_2697375.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24f/anis-shivani-107190_books_writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-ch_2697375.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Writing a successful novel is a great challenge, and you have to be a bit of a poet, a bit of a critic, a…” — Anis Shivani", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Anis Shivani", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anis-shivani/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Writing a successful novel is a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anis-shivani/writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-challenge-and-you-have-to-be-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anis-shivani/writing-a-successful-novel-is-a-great-challenge-and-you-have-to-be-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```