First Novel Quotes

87 First Novel quotes by 83 unique authors

When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked it. — Antony Beevor
I found my first novel difficult. I don't want to make it sound like it's any more difficult than driving a cab or going to… — Anthony Doerr
I sold my very first novel when I was 24 or 25 years old. — Kevin J. Anderson
Fiction is very greedy. It will take all you know and then some. The first novel I tried to write, I was struck by this… — John Updike
I've been writing for a long time. I sat down to write my first novel in the middle of March of 1982. — J. A. Jance
SOON was the first novel where I used a rough outline. Usually I have characters and an idea and write as a process of discovery.… — Jerry B. Jenkins
My first novel, 'Man Walks Into a Room,' is about a man who's lost his memory and has to start a second life. On one… — Nicole Krauss
Writing a first novel was an arduous crash course. I learned so much in the six years it took me to write it, mostly technical… — Rachel Kushner
In every first novel the hero is the author as Christ or Faust. — Oscar Wilde
I began visiting Lima's prisons back in 2007, when my first novel, 'Lost City Radio,' was published in Peru. — Daniel Alarcon
Naturally, you don't sit down in "white hot inspiration" and write with a burning flame in front of you. But since I knew I could… — Harper Lee
The experience of writing 'The Kite Runner' is one I will always think back on with fondness. There is an energy, a romance in writing… — Khaled Hosseini
Being a novelist and being a mother have exactly coincided in my life: the call from my agent saying that I had a contract for… — Barbara Kingsolver
Alice Adams wrote a sweet note to me after my first novel came out when I was 26, and I was so blown away that… — Anne Lamott
People have asked me why I made the first chapter of my first novel so long, and in an invented English. The only answer I… — Alan Moore
It's true that at the time I was fond of Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, and it was from them that I learned about this… — Haruki Murakami
I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it. — Toni Morrison
When I was very little, four or five, I did comic strip drawings, so my first novel had no words. I couldn't write and thought… — Joyce Carol Oates
My first novel - the novel I wrote before 'Midnight's Children' - feels, to me, now, very - I mean, I get embarrassed when I… — Salman Rushdie
My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench. — Wilbur Smith
I completed my first novel when I was 19 years old. — Danielle Steel
When you write your first novel you don't really know what you're doing. There may be writers out there who are brilliant, incisive and in… — Robin McKinley
I had an American journalist say to me, "Is it true you wrote the whole of the first novel on napkins?" I was tempted to… — Joanne Kathleen Rowling
It has been well said that an author who expects results from a first novel is in a position similar to that of a man… — P.G. Wodehouse
At thirty-five, having spent over twenty years running varied businesses for my family, I decided to sit down and write my first novel. I had… — Ashwin Sanghi

Who Wrote These First Novel Quotes

83 authors contributed a total of 87 First Novel Quotes, led by these top contributors: