1137 Novel Quotes for You to Enjoy

I naively thought I would quit television writing, move up to Seattle, my novel would come out, and then I'd have a novel writing career, and so I found myself really stuck in this very poisonous self-pitying state and felt like I'd never write again. And I blamed Seattle for that. Maria Semple

Myself Writing Thought State Television Out Would Blamed Stuck Write Never Poisonous Come Like Felt Up Very Quit Move Again Then Really Novel Found Seattle Career

I steer clear of any novel that gets billed as a 'meditation.' Maria Semple

Meditation Steer Clear Gets Any Novel

Writing a novel is so hard, and there are so many problems that the last thing you're thinking about is adapting this mess you have on your hands as a movie. You just want to get it to work as a novel. That's your main focus. Maria Semple

When you need a good laugh, do you reach for a book? I don't. I expect books to move me deeply and submerge me in another reality. So when a novel makes me roar with laughter, it's always a delightful surprise. Maria Semple

'Where'd You Go, Bernadette' is an epistolary novel - one told in letters. I had no idea how much fun it would be, puzzling together the plot with letters and documents. Maria Semple

You Together Plot Would Would-Be No Idea Had Idea Puzzling Documents How How Much Go Much Fun Novel Letters

There are certainly stories that I used to tell myself as a kid that did influence 'The Cabinet of Wonders.' There's a scene in the novel where there's a flood that bursts through the castle, and one of my favorite things to do when I was a kid at school was imagine what school would be like if there was a sudden flood. Marie Rutkoski

Myself School Kid Favorite Tell Would Favorite Things Would-Be Scene Castle Through Cabinet Like Did Wonders Influence Where Stories Bursts Used Certainly Novel Sudden Flood Things Imagine

'Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons' is a kind of novel in verse about the arc of an urban lesbian love affair - and I suppose there is a certain amount of voyeurism in the consumption of fiction! The 'Sancerre' poems here are more contemplative and about the relationship of the individual to local and wider histories. Marilyn Hacker

Love Death Relationship Lesbian Changing Local Kind Arc About Poems More Individual Consumption Suppose Contemplative Affair Verse Histories Love Affair Fiction Urban Certain Novel Seasons Amount Here Wider

I don't think I could write a novel that wasn't theological. Marilynne Robinson

Think Could Write Theological Novel

Long before 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid', 'Dork Diaries', and the graphic novel explosion, only a small press like Tricycle was willing to take a risk on such an innovative format. Marissa Moss

Long Before Innovative Press Kid Willing Risk Only Small Take Like Diaries Diary Format Dork Explosion Graphic Novel

I hate this word 'graphic novel.' It is a term publishing houses have created for the bourgeois so they wouldn't be ashamed of buying comics... I'm not a graphic novelist. I am a cartoonist and I make comics and I am very happy about it. Marjane Satrapi

Happy Hate Word Cartoonist About Term Bourgeois Make Houses Am Comics Very Ashamed Created Graphic Novel Novelist Publishing Buying

People are so afraid to say the word 'comic'. It makes you think of a grown man with pimples, a ponytail and a big belly. Change it to 'graphic novel' and that disappears. Marjane Satrapi

You Man Change People Word Big Think Say Disappears Makes Comic Pimples Afraid Ponytail Graphic Novel Grown Grown Man Belly

I got into comics because I wrote an 'X-Men' novel for Pocket Books, and I introduced myself to the head of recruitment at Marvel. I'd heard through the grapevine they liked the book, so that gave me the courage to go up to them and be like, 'Hey, if you ever need a writer, here I am.' Marjorie Liu

Myself Me You Courage Book Gave Books Hey Introduced Pocket Marvel Through Writer Recruitment Head Like Liked Wrote Because Got Am Comics Go Heard Up Them Novel Ever Here Need

It may sound surprising, but a joke and a crime novel work in very much the same way. The comedian/writer leads their audience along the garden path. The audience know what's coming, or at least they think they do until they get hit from a direction they were not expecting. Mark Billingham

Work Garden Path Crime Joke Think Way Direction Leads Along Know Until Audience Sound Least Coming Were Surprising Very Hit Get Expecting Same May Much Novel

I think there's as much violence, in a way, as a scene with two women having a cup of coffee in a Ruth Rendell novel - in terms of emotional violence and the violence you can inflict with language - as there is in the most graphic kind of serial killer/slasher novel you can think of. Mark Billingham

As I write each new Thorne novel, I'm determined that whatever is happening plot-wise, a new layer of the onion will be peeled away and reveal something about Thorne that is surprising to me as much as anyone else. If I can remain interested in the character, then hopefully the reader will stay interested, too. Mark Billingham

Character Me Will Whatever Too Else Hopefully Stay About Determined Onion Something Layer Remain Write New Reader Reveal Surprising Anyone Anyone Else Happening Interested Then Much Novel Each Away

In Baltimore, I was walking with a friend who was playing at a pub he kept referring to as the Horse. But when I saw the sign 'The Horse You Came In On' - I thought, 'My God.' I had no intention of ever setting a Jury novel in the U.S., but when I saw that, I thought, 'That's it.' The names are very important. Martha Grimes

God You Thought Important Setting Saw Sign No Intention Horse Had He Names Came Referring Baltimore Friend Very Walking Jury Intention Pub Who Novel Ever Playing Kept

No novel has ever changed anything, as far as I can see. Martin Amis

Changed See As Far As Anything Far Novel Ever

The process of writing a novel begins with a pang, a moment of recognition, and a situation, a character, or something you read in a paper, that seems to go off, like a solar flare inside your head. Martin Amis

I'm hoping to get started on a new novel. Marv Levy

Hoping New Get Novel Started

I just want people to finish the book and say, 'I was entertained.' When I set out to do it, I had no deal in place. I knew it would be tough. I read somewhere that John Steinbeck was turned down 22 times on his first novel. But I was just going to do it. Marv Levy

Book People Tough Somewhere First Down Say Out Entertained Would Would-Be John Finish Had Knew Read Deal His Times Going Just Want Place Turned Novel Set

I always wanted to use my newspaper background in a novel. Mary Kay Andrews

Background Always Wanted Newspaper Use Novel

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