--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I couldn't have known 'Crank' was going…" description: "\"I couldn't have known 'Crank' was going to be published, let alone become a big hit. That book was very personal for me: I had to tell the story for my..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7eb/ellen-hopkins-475_alone_i-couldn-t-have-known-crank-was-going-to_1979516.jpg" --- # I couldn't have known 'Crank' was going to be published… ![“I couldn't have known 'Crank' was going to be published, let alone become a big hit. That book was very personal for me: I had to tell the story for myself.” quote by Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7eb/ellen-hopkins-475_alone_i-couldn-t-have-known-crank-was-going-to_1979516.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7eb/ellen-hopkins-475_alone_i-couldn-t-have-known-crank-was-going-to_1979516.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7eb/ellen-hopkins-475_alone_i-couldn-t-have-known-crank-was-going-to_1979516.jpg) > “I couldn't have known 'Crank' was going to be published, let alone become a big hit. That book was very personal for me: I had to tell the story for myself.” [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author reflects surprise at the book’s unexpected success and its personal significance as a self‑telling journey. **In simple terms:** She was surprised her personal story became a hit. Key Takeaway Embrace personal storytelling. Themes surprise personal growth creative expression Mood reflective hopeful Type inspirational personal When to use this quote - writing a novel - sharing personal trauma - publishing - public reception Key Concepts memoir authenticity self‑discovery Questions to Reflect On - How does sharing personal truth affect you? - What risks are you willing to take in creative work? A Different Perspective Success may bring unwanted scrutiny and pressure. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alone/) [Become](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/become/) [Big](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/big/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Book Personal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book-personal-1320075/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Crank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crank/) [Crank Going](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crank-going-3371347/) [Going](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/going/) [Had](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/had/) [Hit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hit/) [Known](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/known/) [Known Crank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/known-crank-3371346/) [Me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/me/) [Myself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myself/) [Personal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personal/) [Personal Tell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personal-tell-3371348/) [Published](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/published/) [Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/story/) [Tell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tell/) [Very](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/very/) ## Related quotes > [I have been known as a crank, faddist, madman. Evidently the reputation is well deserved. For wherever I go, I draw to myself cranks,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-have-been-known-as-a-crank-faddist-madman-evidently-the-reputation/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [When people are reading a book, it's a personal thing. They're reading it; it's in their own mind; it's in their own personal space…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristy-swanson/when-people-are-reading-a-book-it-s-a-personal-thing-they-re-reading/) [Kristy Swanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristy-swanson/) > [“When you're in love, you want to tell the world. This book is a personal statement, reflecting my lifelong love affair with science.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/when-you-re-in-love-you-want-to-tell-the-world-this-book-is-a/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Some people may have thought that this book was too personal, too confessional. But what these people think about me is none of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/some-people-may-have-thought-that-this-book-was-too-personal-too/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“To all my readers. I don't need my daughter's okay to do anything. I was a writer before she was my daughter. The CRANK…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/to-all-my-readers-i-don-t-need-my-daughter-s-okay-to-do-anything-i/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Believe it or not, I sold my first novel, 'Crank,' with only seventy-five pages complete. It was in verse then, and it was hard-hitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/believe-it-or-not-i-sold-my-first-novel-crank-with-only-seventy-five/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Crank, You See isn't any ordinary monster. It's like a giant octopus, weaving its tentacles not just around you, but through you, squeezing not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/crank-you-see-isn-t-any-ordinary-monster-it-s-like-a-giant-octopus/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [“Life was radical right after I met the monster. Later, life became harder, complicated. Ultimately, a living hell, like swimming against a riptide, Walking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/life-was-radical-right-after-i-met-the-monster-later-life-became/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Enlightened self-interest from those involved in hydrocarbons should lead to the support of technologies enabling the clean use of hydrocarbons, such as carbon capture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-stern/enlightened-self-interest-from-those-involved-in-hydrocarbons-should/) [Nicholas Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-stern/) > [Once we used to have to crank up our cars, now you can pop it on from inside your house. Everything has changed except…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-gregory/once-we-used-to-have-to-crank-up-our-cars-now-you-can-pop-it-on-from/) [Dick Gregory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-gregory/) > [I feel like every time I start up, it's like a truck you have to get into 15th gear, so you very solely crank…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chad-harbach/i-feel-like-every-time-i-start-up-it-s-like-a-truck-you-have-to-get/) [Chad Harbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chad-harbach/) > [Living more lives than one, knowing people of all classes, all shades of opinion, monarchists, republicans, socialists, anarchists, has had a salutary effect on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rheta-childe-dorr/living-more-lives-than-one-knowing-people-of-all-classes-all-shades/) [Rheta Childe Dorr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rheta-childe-dorr/) > [There you go, now crank her back just a hair right there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-moore/there-you-go-now-crank-her-back-just-a-hair-right-there/) [Justin Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-moore/) > [“Really great moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is quacks and cranks who do that. As”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/really-great-moral-teachers-never-do-introduce-new-moralities-it-is/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Dr. Arnold . . . the admired reformer of public schools, came across some cranks who thought it a mistake to flog boys. Anyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/dr-arnold-the-admired-reformer-of-public-schools-came-across-some/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) ## More by Ellen Hopkins > [“I've been alone since my mom met Scott. He sucked the nectar from her heart like a famished butterfly. No nurture, no nourishment left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/i-ve-been-alone-since-my-mom-met-scott-he-sucked-the-nectar-from-her/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [I wonder how long it would take him to realize I'm right as sin - it's the rest of the world that's wrong. I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/i-wonder-how-long-it-would-take-him-to-realize-i-m-right-as-sin-it-s/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Do you know how beautiful you are?' I shook my head 'I'm not. But you make me fell like I am.' I wanted to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/do-you-know-how-beautiful-you-are-i-shook-my-head-i-m-not-but-you/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [That's what I'll be. 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Once upon a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/the-truth-is-i-don-t-have-a-real-clue-what-love-is-how-to-find-it-how/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [But death doesn't scare me. To know exactly when I might expect it, up close and in my face, would actually be a comfort.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/but-death-doesn-t-scare-me-to-know-exactly-when-i-might-expect-it-up/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [So You Want to Know All about her. Who she really is. (Was?) Why she swerved off the high road. Hard left to nowhere,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/so-you-want-to-know-all-about-her-who-she-really-is-was-why-she/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [“I don’t belong here. I know that. But I don’t belong anywhere else, either. And that is at the heart of the black depression…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/i-don-t-belong-here-i-know-that-but-i-don-t-belong-anywhere-else/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Six months since we met up again we are inseparable, an intricate weave. No longer do I believe this is a temporary fling. More…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/six-months-since-we-met-up-again-we-are-inseparable-an-intricate/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [“But who ever said the easiest path is the one you should choose?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/but-who-ever-said-the-easiest-path-is-the-one-you-should-choose/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Afraid to Die Loveless Because I think if you die without knowing love in this life, that's how you'll spend eternity. Alone. Frozen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/afraid-to-die-loveless-because-i-think-if-you-die-without-knowing/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Every high has an equal, measurable low.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/every-high-has-an-equal-measurable-low/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Don't Stop ...down, ...Down there ...down where ...monsters, ...Run!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/don-t-stop-down-down-there-down-where-monsters-run/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) [Explore all 534 Ellen Hopkins quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) ## More Alone quotes > [I can be taken away from myself quite easily, I kind of start betraying myself and compromising my integrity, to keep someone else happy.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aimee-lou-wood/i-can-be-taken-away-from-myself-quite-easily-i-kind-of-start/) [Aimee Lou Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aimee-lou-wood/) > [Perhaps our own opposition to even the level of European integration we have now, let alone any more, is well known.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-farage/perhaps-our-own-opposition-to-even-the-level-of-european-integration/) [Nigel Farage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-farage/) > [If your goal is to look different, you'll see results faster with strength training than with cardio alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kaiser/if-your-goal-is-to-look-different-you-ll-see-results-faster-with/) [Anna Kaiser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kaiser/) > [With my songs, the question is always, 'Can you pull it off live, alone on just an acoustic guitar?' 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