Authors Quote by John Fowles
““You may think novelists always have fixed plans to which they work, so that the future predicted by Chapter One is always inexorably the actuality of Chapter Thirteen. But novelists write for countless different reasons: for money, for fame, for reviewers, for parents, for friends, for loved ones; for vanity, for pride, for curiosity, for amusement: as skilled furniture makers enjoy making furniture, as drunkards like drinking, as judges like judging, as Sicilians like emptying a shotgun into an enemy's back. I could fill a book with reasons, and they would all be true, though not true of all. Only one same reason is shared by all of us: we wish to create worlds as real as, but other than the world that is. Or was. This is why we cannot plan. We know a world is an organism, not a machine. We also know that a genuinely created world must be independent of its creator; a planned world (a world that fully reveals its planning) is a dead world. It is only when our characters and events begin to disobey us that they begin to live.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”, 1969
Writers create stories without fixed plans; characters must act independently for a world to feel alive.
In simple terms: Authors write without strict plans; characters need autonomy.
Key Takeaway
Allow characters to surprise you.
Themes
creativity
control
autonomy
fiction
Mood
thoughtful
inspirational
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- writing workshops
- novel drafting
- creative brainstorming
Key Concepts
narrative theory
character agency
organic storytelling
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you balance structure and spontaneity?
- What gives a story its vitality?
A Different Perspective
Over‑planning can stifle authenticity.
