Books Quote by Stella Gibbons

“The problem lies not with the characters within the novel, but with the reader itself.”

— Vladimir Nabokov

Considerations of plot do a great deal of heavy lifting when it comes to long-form narrative - readers will overlook the most ham-fisted prose…

— Lynn Coady

“All good exposition is disguised by making it dramatic – by injecting conflict.”

— John Yorke

“Through engagement with others, literature lets us imagine what it would be like to be different.”

— Anonymous

“The principle that characters do not want to change applies to more than just fiction.”

— Donald Miller

“What's remarkable about fiction is that it places you in the unusual position of having no trajectory. You stand aside, motives abandoned for the…

— Tom Rachman

[E]very plot, worth the name, must be elaborated to its dénouement before anything be attempted with the pen. It is only with the dénouement…

— Edgar Allan Poe

“The character drives the plot, and the plot molds the character’s arc. They cannot work independently.”

— K.M. Weiland

“Two things can keep the common reader going, argument or story. (Both are always involved, however subtly, in good fiction.)”

— John Gardner

The thematic, psychological, and cultural concerns of a writer are more relevant than whatever literary mode he or she chooses to deal with in…

— Norman Spinrad

“What happened is the least of it. It’s a novel, and once you’ve finished a novel, what happened in it is of little importance…

— Javier Marías

“Plot is certainly a part of constructing a story. It’s a factor in outlining. But believe it or not, it’s the least important factor.…

— Libbie Hawker