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Portrait of James N. Frey

James N. Frey

(1943) Novelist United States

16 quotes in 79 categories

James N. Frey is a novelist from the United States, best known for The Key.

Quick Facts About James N. Frey

Born: March 15, 1943
Nationality: United States
Profession: Novelist
Notable works: The Key

About James N. Frey

James N. Frey is an American writer and creative writing teacher. Frey has written both fiction and non-fiction and is known for his book called How to Write a Damn Good Novel. He has written novels, plays, and several guides on writing. In addition to being an author, he is a lecturer at schools and conferences. Frey was selected Honored Teacher of the Year in 1994 for his novel writing classes at the University of California, Berkeley. Currently, Frey lives in Berkeley, California.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Quotes by James N. Frey

All good plots come from well-orchestrated characters pitted against one another in a conflict of wills.

Character

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“You can kill the spell of identification just as easily as you can create it—if you lose the readers' sympathy for the…

Books

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You will never work through writer's block if you walk away from your typewriter. That will only make it easier to walk…

Block

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For some it is harder to write a novel than to row a bathtub across the North Atlantic.

Books

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“So far, we’ve discussed how you start with a germinal idea and what makes a good one; then we discussed the villain…

Goals

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When characters have different goals and are intent on achieving them, conflict results. If the stakes are high and both sides are…

Achieve

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It has been said that Ernest Hemingway would rewrite scenes until they pleased him, often thirty or forty times. Hemingway, critics claimed,…

Critics

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It is possible to combine a story line and plot line in the same work. Usually the storylines comes first, serving as…

Backgrounds

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Novel writing is like heroin addiction; it takes everything you've got.

Addiction

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“Before you go ahead with a flashback, ask yourself if you can make the same impact on your reader through conflict in…

Ask yourself

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To set a forest on fire, you light a match. To set a character on fire, you put him in conflict.

Character

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Writer's block is real. It happens. Some days you sit down at the old typewriter, put your fingers on the keys, and…

Block

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Fiction writers come up with some interesting metaphors when speaking of plot. Some say the plot is the highway and the characters…

Artificial

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“Fiction can be more real to the reader than reality itself because fiction is the essence of life”

Books

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The opposing missions of the various characters create the plot.

Character

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“Readers find most flashbacks intolerable. Yet a lot of neophyte writers flash back like mad. Why? No one but the Creator of…

Books

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James N. Frey by topic