Books Quote by Maggie Shipstead

Novels are so much unrulier and more stressful to write. A short story can last two pages and then it's over, and that's kind…

— Aimee Bender

I'm always writing across the same themes. But with short stories, I'm doing something different than with novels. In some ways, they're coming from…

— Lynn Coady

I prefer a great novel, but many novels come with a bunch of novel-y writerliness that feels sort of macho to me, so I…

— Miranda July

The novels take longer to write than the picture book texts, and they do take a different sort of concentration. However, a very short,…

— Margaret Mahy

Well, to be honest I think I'm a better short story writer than a novelist. Novels I find very hard, hours and hours, weeks…

— Eric Brown

Short-story writing requires an exquisite sense of balance. Novelists, frankly, can get away with more. A novel can have a dull spot or two,…

— Lynn Abbey

Novels are more difficult simply because they are longer and require more juggling, but short stories are closer to perfection, if you can get…

— Colum McCann

I'm one of those writers who started off writing novels and came to writing short stories later, partly because I didn't have the right…

— Julian Barnes

Novels are almost like music or poetry - they just come to me in simple sentences, whereas I think my pieces get more and…

— Joan Didion

When you write a novel you have to live with the characters for a long time. So I prefer short stories. I never wrote…

— Ruskin Bond

Once I had started, I discovered the secret pleasure of writing a novel. It's such an immersive, deep commitment. With short stories, you're continually…

— Debra Dean

I really do believe some people are naturally novelists and some people are short story writers. For me, when I was in middle school…

— M. K. Hobson