Books Quote by Fred D'Aguiar

The idea that people in novels should be more sympathetic than people in life simply baffles me.

— Andrew O'Hagan

The novel is about, for me, sustained and organized looking. I do think that people have a hunger for a sustained engagement, that concentration…

— Dana Spiotta

“The whole plot was a sinister drollery, the simple delight of stirring up great crowds to die and kill, of one who could not…

— William Bolitho

“People who felt scared or desperate enough could do almost anything, even things that are extremely out of their character to do; things that…

— J M Northup

The function of the novel is the exploration of the human condition. Really, that's what it's all about.

— Patrick O'Brian

“Fearful people tend to be shaped by past interactions.”

— Brendon Burchard

The idea for each of the stories in this book came in a moment of belief and was written in a burst of faith,…

— Stephen King

And this is the way a novel gets written, in ignorance, fear, sorrow, madness, and a kind of psychotic happiness as an incubator for…

— Jack Kerouac

Human beings have their great chance in the novel.

— Anonymous

So when things start going badly, you're invested in the characters in a way I think amplifies the horror and the fear because you're…

— Katherine Waterston

The suspense in a novel is not only in the reader, but in the novelist himself, who is intensely curious too about what will…

— Mary McCarthy

I do believe in that thing about the reading audience being very important to the formation of the novel at its birth.

— John Lanchester