--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The most striking fault in work by young…" description: "\"The most striking fault in work by young or beginning novelists, submitted for criticism, is irrelevance--due either to infatuation or indecision. To d..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_attention_the-most-striking-fault-in-work-by-young_841743.jpg" --- # The most striking fault in work by young or beginning… ![“The most striking fault in work by young or beginning novelists, submitted for criticism, is irrelevance--due either to infatuation or indecision. To direct such an author's attention to the imperative of relevance is certainly the most useful--and possibly the only--help that can be given.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_attention_the-most-striking-fault-in-work-by-young_841743.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_attention_the-most-striking-fault-in-work-by-young_841743.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_attention_the-most-striking-fault-in-work-by-young_841743.jpg) > “The most striking fault in work by young or beginning novelists, submitted for criticism, is irrelevance--due either to infatuation or indecision. To direct such an author's attention to the imperative of relevance is certainly the most useful--and possibly the only--help that can be given.” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A novice writer often writes about irrelevant topics because of obsession or uncertainty; guiding them toward relevance is the most valuable assistance. **In simple terms:** New writers may be off‑topic due to passion or doubt; focusing on relevance helps. Key Takeaway Emphasize relevance in early drafts. Themes writing relevance novelists criticism guidance Mood reflective analytical Type advice critical educational When to use this quote - creative writing workshops - editorial feedback - self‑editing - literary mentorship Key Concepts literary criticism author development Questions to Reflect On - How can writers balance relevance with artistic freedom? - When does relevance become a constraint? A Different Perspective Relevance can be subjective and may stifle creative risk. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Attention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attention/) [Author Attention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/author-attention-648592/) [Beginning Novelists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beginning-novelists-648590/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) [Criticism Irrelevance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism-irrelevance-648589/) [Direct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/direct/) [Dues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dues/) [Faults](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faults/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Given](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given/) [Helping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/helping/) [Imperatives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperatives/) [Indecision](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indecision/) [Infatuation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infatuation/) [Irrelevance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/irrelevance/) [Novelists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novelists/) [Relevance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relevance/) [Submitted Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/submitted-criticism-648591/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/young/) ## Related quotes > [Very often the law of extremity demands an attention to irrelevance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/very-often-the-law-of-extremity-demands-an-attention-to-irrelevance/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [On graduating from school, a studious young man who would withstand the tedium and monotony of his duties has no choice but to lose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-augustin-de-coulomb/on-graduating-from-school-a-studious-young-man-who-would-withstand/) [Charles-Augustin de Coulomb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-augustin-de-coulomb/) > [If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-don-t-like-change-you-re-going-to-like-irrelevance-even-less-2/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A philosopher is a lover of wisdom, not of knowledge, which for all its great uses ultimately suffers from the crippling effect of ephemerality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-tharoor/a-philosopher-is-a-lover-of-wisdom-not-of-knowledge-which-for-all-its/) [Shashi Tharoor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-tharoor/) > [“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less. General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff of the Army22”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-fontenot/if-you-don-t-like-change-you-re-going-to-like-irrelevance-even-less/) [Gregory Fontenot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-fontenot/) > [The question of relevance comes before that of truth, because to ask whether a statement is true or false presupposes that it is relevant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bohm/the-question-of-relevance-comes-before-that-of-truth-because-to-ask/) [David Bohm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bohm/) > [The fear of mistakes is the fast track to irrelevance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-gebbia/the-fear-of-mistakes-is-the-fast-track-to-irrelevance/) [Joe Gebbia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-gebbia/) > [“Poetry often enters through the window of irrelevance. M. C. RICHARDS”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-cameron/poetry-often-enters-through-the-window-of-irrelevance-m-c-richards/) [Julia Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-cameron/) > [By our uncritical pursuit of relevance we have actually courted irrelevance; by our breathless chase after relevance without a matching committment to faithfulness, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/by-our-uncritical-pursuit-of-relevance-we-have-actually-courted/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [We who advocate peace are becoming an irrelevance when we speak peace. The government speaks rubber bullets, live bullets, tear gas, police dogs, detention,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-tutu/we-who-advocate-peace-are-becoming-an-irrelevance-when-we-speak-peace/) [Desmond Tutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-tutu/) > [If moral statements are about something, then the universe is not quite as science suggests it is, since physical theories, having said nothing about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/if-moral-statements-are-about-something-then-the-universe-is-not/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [“When the shine is wearing off and the underlying cracks of a garlanded lifestyle become painfully apparent, reality may inexorably take its toll and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/when-the-shine-is-wearing-off-and-the-underlying-cracks-of-a/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [Politics is about the participation and engagement of the wider citizenry - to miss that point would doom us to irrelevance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-blunkett/politics-is-about-the-participation-and-engagement-of-the-wider/) [David Blunkett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-blunkett/) > [Incrementalism in technology leads to irrelevance; what you need is revolutionary change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-porat/incrementalism-in-technology-leads-to-irrelevance-what-you-need-is/) [Ruth Porat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-porat/) > [The leaders of the future will be those who dare to claim their irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-leaders-of-the-future-will-be-those-who-dare-to-claim-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## More Attention quotes > [It appears to me that one great cause of our difference in opinion on subjects which we often discuss is that you have always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ricardo/it-appears-to-me-that-one-great-cause-of-our-difference-in-opinion-on/) [David Ricardo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ricardo/) > [People pay far too much attention to the television and they're quite literal in some ways. At the beginning, when I was playing very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ardal-o-hanlon/people-pay-far-too-much-attention-to-the-television-and-they-re-quite/) [Ardal O'Hanlon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ardal-o-hanlon/) > [Television, radio, social media. The 24/7 news cycle plows forward mercilessly on our desks, in our cars and in our pockets. Thousands and thousands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-prince/television-radio-social-media-the-24-7-news-cycle-plows-forward/) [Joseph Prince](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-prince/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/our-inventions-are-wont-to-be-pretty-toys-which-distract-our/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [What people don't normally know about us is the hustle is very real, and it's sorely driven a lot by how we consider ourselves.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lzzy-hale/what-people-don-t-normally-know-about-us-is-the-hustle-is-very-real/) [Lzzy Hale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lzzy-hale/) > [For me, the term "psychotherapy" is limiting. It implies that we work with mind and emotions, but excludes the body and pays scant attention…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jed-diamond/for-me-the-term-psychotherapy-is-limiting-it-implies-that-we-work/) [Jed Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jed-diamond/) > [When you approach something to photograph it, first be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence. Then don't leave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/minor-white/when-you-approach-something-to-photograph-it-first-be-still-with/) [Minor White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/minor-white/) > [I'm writing about real things. Real people. Real characters. You have to believe what I write about is true or you wouldn't pay any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-reed/i-m-writing-about-real-things-real-people-real-characters-you-have-to/) [Lou Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-reed/) > [ I went to a mosque in Philadelphia with \[my wife\] in December 24, 1999. And we we went to this mosque in Philly, and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahershala-ali/i-went-to-a-mosque-in-philadelphia-with-my-wife-in-december-24-1999/) [Mahershala Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahershala-ali/) > [The Harvard Business Review recently had an article called 'The Human Moment,' about how to make real contact with a person at work: ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-goleman/the-harvard-business-review-recently-had-an-article-called-the-human/) [Daniel Goleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-goleman/) > [Let us thank God heartily as often as we pray that we have His Spirit in us to teach us to pray. Thanksgiving will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-murray/let-us-thank-god-heartily-as-often-as-we-pray-that-we-have-his-spirit/) [Andy Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-murray/) > [Enlightened people live in very charged states of attention, with a tremendous power circuiting through them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/enlightened-people-live-in-very-charged-states-of-attention-with-a/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [We must have a welfare system that we can afford, which will mean giving greater attention to directing the welfare program toward its primary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-portillo/we-must-have-a-welfare-system-that-we-can-afford-which-will-mean/) [Michael Portillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-portillo/) > [The director's job should give you a sense of music without drawing attention to itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-hackford/the-director-s-job-should-give-you-a-sense-of-music-without-drawing/) [Taylor Hackford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-hackford/) [Browse all 10,153 Attention quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attention/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The most striking fault in work by young or beginning novelists, submitted for criticism, is irrelevance--due either to infatuation or indecision. 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