Arbitrary Quote by Elif Batuman

The novel is like a melancholy form. It's about some kind of disillusionment with the way things are versus the idea of how they…

— Elif Batuman

A novel is challenging, because you have more story than you need and you have to select and narrow.

— Peter Hedges

“The inexperienced reader wants the essentially familiar combined with superficial novelty. Each story must have a slightly new setting or twist or "gimmick," though…

— Laurence Perrine

If any art form can accommodate contemporary culture, it's the novel. It's so malleable - it can incorporate essays, poetry, film. Maybe the challenge…

— Don DeLillo

In my experience, a novel is the culmination of various thoughts and impressions collected over time, until something comes along to give them a…

— J. Courtney Sullivan

“When you start writing, you may think you will use the book to guide readers down certain paths and through certain themes. But, the…

— M.D. Cliatt

“In the novels he was to write as an adult, transformation (along with liberation and celebration) was a major theme.”

— Tom Robbins

Each book has been different and has been challenging in its own way to write.

— Jean M. Auel

“What was the point of having a situation worthy of fiction if the protagonist didn't behave as he would have done in a book?”

— Julian Barnes

“Well, this is a story about books.” “About books?” “About accursed books, about the man who wrote them, about a character who broke out…

— Carlos Ruiz Zafón

“Different narrative forms naturally lend themselves to different aspects of existence. The novel is ideal for presenting the inner lives of its characters, the…

— Todd Alcott

A novel means a new way of doing a story

— Romesh Gunesekera