Quotes about Writing a Novel

Oh you know, I've been writing a novel. Votes: 4

I always knew writing a novel was a great thing. Votes: 4

You know, I can imagine not writing a novel and writing poetry only. Votes: 4

I find coming up with a title the hardest part of writing a novel. Votes: 4

For me, writing a short story is much, much harder than writing a novel. Votes: 4

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. Votes: 4

It's the technique, I think, of writing a novel that is difficult for a nonfiction writer. Votes: 4

I've always been ambidextrous, writing short stories and novels, and I pretty much have been writing a novel and a handful of short stories every year since '91. Votes: 4

I had just begun an M.A. in Creative Writing, and I had to write a novel, so I began writing a novel that later became 'A Life Apart.' Votes: 4

Deciding to write a novel about something - as opposed to finding you are writing a novel around something - sounds to me like a good evocation of writer's block. Votes: 4

For me, writing a novel is like having a dream. Writing a novel lets me intentionally dream while I'm still awake. I can continue yesterday's dream today, something you can't normally do in everyday life. Votes: 4

The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it. Votes: 3

Ironically, writing a novel is not a way to sort out your confusion. Votes: 3

When one is writing a novel in the first person, one must be that person. Votes: 3

While writing a novel, I don't read anything new in fiction. I am too engrossed. Votes: 3

The desire to write a novel is the single required prerequisite for writing a novel. Votes: 3

It's hard for me to think of writing a novel, because it takes so long. Votes: 3

I read all the time. Sometimes I get asked if I've thought about writing a novel. Votes: 3

When I start writing a novel, I have no sense of direction, no idea, really nothing. Votes: 3

The only justification for writing a novel is that it should be wonderful. Adequate is inadequate. Votes: 3

The whole process of writing a novel is having this great, beautiful idea and then spoiling it. Votes: 3

While writing a novel I almost completely stop reading books in the same sub-genre for the duration. Votes: 3

Building a dollhouse is a lot like writing a novel because you are God of the Universe. Votes: 3

The most exciting part of writing a novel is when the characters take control of the story Votes: 3

I think the main thing to remember when writing a novel is to stay true to the characters. Votes: 3

Then I decided I would spend the summer writing a novel. That would fix a lot of people. Votes: 3

I set out to write a screenplay but, since my early 20s, had dreamed of writing a novel. Votes: 3

Anthropological fieldwork is so much like writing a novel. You don't know what the hell is going on. Votes: 3

For me, the process of writing a novel happens mostly in your head before you actually start writing. Votes: 3

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature. Votes: 3

When I was 23 and about to go to law school, I thought I'd spend the summer writing a novel. Votes: 3

When I am writing a novel I try not to read great prose stylists into which I will fall. Votes: 3

Half the fun of writing a novel is finding out from other people later on what you actually meant. Votes: 3

I feel a bigger sense of fulfillment when writing a novel, and short stories are more about instant gratification. Votes: 3

In my experience, writing a novel tends to create its own structure, its own demands, its own language, its own ending. Votes: 3

Writing a short story is like having a short intense affair, whereas writing a novel is like a long rich marriage. Votes: 3

There is no other way of writing a novel than to begin at the beginning at to continue to the end. Votes: 3

Sometimes writing a novel is not unlike having a baby. You'd have to ask a female novelist to compare the pain. Votes: 3

A certain luxury when you get to writing a novel is to have the space to have your characters just banter. Votes: 3

If you're writing a novel, you're in a room for three or four years. There's not much coming in from the outside. Votes: 3

One of the ready advantages of writing a road or quest story is that it mirrors the experience of writing a novel. Votes: 3

When you're writing a novel, you're still telling a story. But you're telling it very differently. It's a craft like anything else. Votes: 3

The first thing you have to consider when writing a novel is your story, and then your story - and then your story! Votes: 3

The good thing about writing a novel is that you're creating an imaginary world and can take a break when you need to. Votes: 3

What interests me in writing a novel is taking really remote voices, characters, and stories and beginning to create some kind of web. Votes: 3

There are two kinds of typical days. There's the typical day when I'm writing a novel, and there's the typical day when I'm not. Votes: 3

For me, writing a novel is like solving a puzzle. But I don't intend my novels as puzzles. I intend them as invitations to dance. Votes: 3

The truth is that when you're writing a novel you're really living in it; you're living in the house, and you're living in the town. Votes: 3

Fiction writing is an act of imagination, lived experience is secondary in many ways, writing a novel really is all about inventing worlds and people. Votes: 3

It's such a confidence trick, writing a novel. The main person you have to trick into confidence is yourself. This is hard to do alone. Votes: 3

The business of writing a novel is a long, meandering road into the self, into the imagination. And it's a road the writer travels alone. Votes: 3

Plot is tremendously important to me: I can't stand books where nothing happens, and I can't imagine ever writing a novel without at least one murder. Votes: 3

Part of the work of writing a novel is to uncover the symmetries or connections that make it whole, which might not reveal itself at first. Votes: 3

I've never been good with deadlines. My early novels, I wrote by myself. No one knew I was writing a novel; I didn't have a contract. Votes: 3

When you're writing a novel - at least the way I write is I work from what I would call 'emotional atmosphere,' ambiance to ambiance. Votes: 3

You must understand that when you are writing a novel you are not making anything up. It's all there and you just have to find it. Votes: 3

What's the challenge in writing a novel that few people will read? I'm more than happy writing what I do and have no plans to change that. Votes: 3

I do write a lot of prose. It's not disciplined enough yet that it's actually become stories, or short stories. The idea of writing a novel seems impossible. Votes: 3

One of the most difficult things in writing a novel or anything at all is to choose the point of view from which it's going to be told. Votes: 3

I never conceived of not writing a novel. I believed - oh, God, I believed, it was an article of faith! - I was born to write a novel. Votes: 3

The monotony of staying in one place is the best thing for writing a novel. Having regular habits, a kind of security, but especially no big surprises, no shocks. Votes: 3

We are material creatures who spend much of our lives on material pursuits (even building a cathedral or writing a novel requires stone and mortar or paper and ink). Votes: 3

Anyone who works in the arts knows, if you're writing a novel or a play or anything, you have to be ready for someone to say, 'Your time is up.' Votes: 3

When I am writing fiction, I believe I am much better organized, more methodical - one has to be when writing a novel. Writing poetry is a state of free float. Votes: 3

Yes, writing a novel, my boy, is like driving pigs to market - you have one of them making a bolt down the wrong lane; another won't get over the right stile ... Votes: 3

I am a novelist. I traffic in subtleties, and my goal in writing a novel is to leave the reader not knowing what to think. A good novel shouldn't have a point. Votes: 3

The short story seems like the best of all possible worlds. I do feel it is closer to writing poetry than to writing a novel, with its requirements of concentration and economy. Votes: 3

The choreographic process is exhausting. It happens on one's feet after hours of work, and the energy required is roughly the equivalent of writing a novel and winning a tennis match simultaneously. Votes: 3

You can only look forward to a South Dakota winter if, as with childbirth, remodeling a house, or writing a novel, you're able to forget how bad it was the last time. Votes: 3

In weeks when I was writing a novel, I followed a five-day schedule, doing about thirty pages a day, so a typical Ace novel would take me six or seven days to write. Votes: 3

I didn't feel the need for anonymous affection, for people in the dark applauding. To me, it would be like writing a novel and then getting up every night and reading your novel. Votes: 3

Part of writing a novel is being willing to leap into the blackness. You have very little idea, really, of what's going to happen. You have a broad sense, maybe, but it's this rash leap. Votes: 3

I wanted to find something I could do at home. I sat down with a friend and made a list of all the things I could try, and one of them was writing a novel. Votes: 3

Whether I'm writing a novel about a guy mourning the death of his father or whether I'm writing a show about people killing each other, you want to hear characters speak and be funny and witty. Votes: 3

When you're writing a novel, you don't want the reader to come out of it voting yes or no to some question. Life is more complicated than that. Reality simply consists of different points of view. Votes: 3

I started writing prose before I started writing television. Then 'Breaking Bad' came around, and to me, writing 'Breaking Bad' is like writing a novel each season. So it's been very creatively satisfying writing for the show. Votes: 3

Movie making is not like other art forms, like painting, or writing a novel, because that can be digested or interpreted... It takes two years to make each one of these, and it's always judged on money. Votes: 3

For me, writing a novel goes on for years, and the solitude goes on, too. It tends to swallow me at times. I know it's a problem when my husband sends the dog in to retrieve me. Votes: 3

I started writing a novel from the monster's point of view. It has its own difficulties but, I'm ashamed to say, it's much easier writing from a psychopath's point of view than from that of their empathetic opposite. Votes: 3

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. Votes: 3

Most people who seek attention and regard by announcing that they're writing a novel are actually so devoid of narrative talent that they can't hold the attention of a dinner table for thirty seconds, even with a dirty joke. Votes: 3

Many great authors of the 19th century wrote under conditions of strict censorship. The great thing about the art of writing a novel, is that you can write about anything. All you have to say is that it's fiction. Votes: 3

When I'm writing a novel, I'm dealing with a double life. I live in the present at the same time that I live in the past with my characters. It is this that makes a novelist so eccentric and unpleasant. Votes: 3

For me, writing a novel is more like digging a well than climbing a mountain - some heroic thing where I set out to conquer. I just sit quietly for a few years, and then it starts to become something. Votes: 3

And the nice thing about writing a novel is you take your time, you sit with the character sometimes nine years, you look very deeply at a situation, unlike in real life when we just kind of snap something out. Votes: 3

When I'm writing a novel, I'm dealing with a double life. I live in the present at the same time that I live in the past with my characters. It is this that makes a novelist so eccentric and unpleasant. Votes: 3

As a teacher at Princeton, I'm surrounded by people who work hard so I just make good use of my time. And I don't really think of it as work - writing a novel, in one sense, is a problem-solving exercise. Votes: 3

If you invent something, you're doing a creative act. It's like writing a novel or composing music. You put your heart and soul into it, and money. It's years of your life, it's your house remortgaged, huge emotional investment and financial investment. Votes: 3

I think I got spoiled and that writing a short story and getting it published, or writing a novel and getting it published, you pretty much get to do the first, second and third draft yourself without a whole lot of interference. Votes: 3

But compared to writing a novel, where you can be God, I did the Bay of Pigs invasion in six pages once, and there were 50,000 guys with boots that I didn't have to pay, and all those extras; we didn't have to pay them." Votes: 3

I quickly realised that it is difficult to get started when writing a novel. You have this dream of what you want to create, but it is like walking around a swimming pool and hesitating to jump in because the water is too cold. Votes: 3

But compared to writing a novel, where you can be God, I did the Bay of Pigs invasion in six pages once, and there were 50,000 guys with boots that I didn't have to pay, and all those extras; we didn't have to pay them. Votes: 3

It may sound very strange, but I love the freedom that writing a novel gives me. It is an unhindered experience. If I come after a bad day, I can decide that my protagonist will die on page 100 of my novel in a 350-page story. Votes: 3

If you're gonna use simile, analogy, metaphor, be descriptive and have some flowery adjectives and a few odd nouns and some engaging bits of dialogue or sentiment, then you're sort of writing a novel, really. But rock lyrics are not really known for their sophistication. Votes: 3

I sometimes start keeping a journal about the writing process itself. Particularly when I get the ideas, and I am trying to brood over the chaos phase. In writing a novel, you really have to brood over a lot of chaos of ideas and possibilities. Votes: 3

The object is very clear in the fight against racism; you have reasons why you're opposed to it. But when you're writing a novel, you don't want the reader to come out of it voting yes or no to some question. Life is more complicated than that. Votes: 3

When I'm writing a novel or doing other serious writing work, I do it on a schedule that dictates writing either 2,000 words a day or writing until noon. After I hit whichever mark comes first, then I can give my attention to everything else I have to do. Votes: 3

When I'm writing a novel, which is what I like to write, I get up early, sit zazen, make a pot of green tea. I wear wrist cuffs to keep my wrists warm and minimize irritation from extended contact with the surface of my desk. I sit down and write. Votes: 3

When Im writing a novel, which is what I like to write, I get up early, sit zazen, make a pot of green tea. I wear wrist cuffs to keep my wrists warm and minimize irritation from extended contact with the surface of my desk. I sit down and write. Votes: 3

There's a difference between doing memoir and writing a novel. If I had put the story of the boy killing my dog - and that was Eric also, what a little monster he was! - in a novel, even if I took it directly from life, it would be fiction. Votes: 3

So, I outlined a horror novel and started writing. Votes: 2

Writing a novel that crosses genres is a risk, but one well worth taking. Votes: 2

Writing a novel is easier than writing a memoir; you are not constrained by the truth. Votes: 2

If I really considered myself a writer, I wouldn't be writing screenplays. I'd be writing novels. Votes: 2

A good novel is a good novel, pointe finale. And I think what I'm writing is exactly that. Votes: 2

The difficulty of writing a second novel is directly proportional to how successful the first novel was, it seems. Votes: 2

The Fourth Hand' was a novel that came from twenty years of screenwriting concurrently with whatever novel I'm writing. Votes: 2

I've been writing for a long time. I sat down to write my first novel in the middle of March of 1982. Votes: 2

I'd probably still be a financial journalist now if it weren't for writing novels. Mmm. Fun! I'm much happier writing novels! Votes: 2

Novel writing wrecks homes. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is agony. Votes: 0

Novel writing is solitary work. Votes: 0

The central problem of novel-writing is causality. Votes: 0

Facebook is the novel we are all writing Votes: 0

Writing a novel is a lot like reading one. Votes: 0

I wish I could spend six years writing one novel. Votes: 0

What we know about writing the novel is the novel. Votes: 0

Novel writing is World Building & Word Weaving (Neil Postman's terms). Votes: 0

Actually, I enjoy the process of writing a big long novel. Votes: 0

The biggest downside to being a novelist is writing the novel. Votes: 0

There's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing at all. Votes: 0

Novel writing is like heroin addiction; it takes everything you've got. Votes: 0

Novel writing is far and away the most exhausting work I know. Votes: 0

I am writing my second novel for children for Simon and Schuster. Votes: 0

Try writing...a list, a letter, a journal, a novel, a declaration. Votes: 0

I never really had novel-writing instruction like people do in MFA programs. Votes: 0

After writing each novel, I would spend days poring over suggestions from my editor. Votes: 0

I don't feel the need to prove myself by writing the next generational novel. Votes: 0

As for writing about temptation, there's no drama without temptation, and no novel without drama. Votes: 0

I was uncomfortable writing fiction. My love was the personal essay, rather than the novel. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is not so much a project as a journey, a voyage, an adventure. Votes: 0

Often it doesn't occur to you what kind of novel you're writing until quite late on. Votes: 0

Everyone my age had written a novel and I was still having difficulty writing a paragraph. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is like building a wall brick by brick; only amateurs believe in inspiration. Votes: 0

Writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity. Votes: 0

I'm trying to get every man involved in art, into experimental music, or painting, or novel-writing." Votes: 0

Novel-writing is a settling, lovely space. I call it self-indulgent - I feel mildly guilty about it. Votes: 0

Novel writing is a kind of private pleasure, even if nothing comes of it in worldly terms. Votes: 0

Each piece of writing I undertake, whether a story, novel, play, or poem, begins with an image. Votes: 0

Just about everybody has written a first novel that they throw away before writing their actual first novel. Votes: 0

I started writing half a paragraph of a mystery novel, half a paragraph there, and they were terrible. Votes: 0

There isn't, unfortunately, any way of discovering whether you can write a publishable novel except by writing it. Votes: 0

I wish every American explored the importance of novel writing, identity, honesty, character and place in fresh-ass ways. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. Votes: 0

Writing a novel without being asked seems a bit like having a baby when you have nowhere to live. Votes: 0

'The Fourth Hand' was a novel that came from twenty years of screenwriting concurrently with whatever novel I'm writing. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is like trying to solve a very long mathematical equation. Changing anything can change everything else. Votes: 0

You never learn how to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing. Votes: 0

Novel-writing is the only place where someone who would have liked to do anything can still do that vicariously. Votes: 0

My first novel is loaded with food references largely because my cupboards were bare, and I was writing hungry. Votes: 0

Novel-writing is the only place where someone who would have liked to do anything can still do that vicariously, Votes: 0

I've got an original graphic novel called 'The Indian and the Bandit' that I'm writing with a childhood friend. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is like working on foreign policy. There are problems to be solved. It's not all inspirational. Votes: 0

When one starts writing a book, especially a novel, even the humblest person in the world hopes to become Homer. Votes: 0

I started writing seriously when I was 18, wrote my first novel when I was 22, and I've never stopped writing since. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is not method acting and I find it easy to step out of it at cocktail hour. Votes: 0

It is so much hard work writing your first novel. You're not even sure that it is possible to do. Votes: 0

Novel-writing is a bit like deception. You lie as little as you possibly can. That's the way I do it, anyway. Votes: 0

Writing a novel, I am making is an object that has a life and identity of its own, apart from me. Votes: 0

Novel writing should never be confused with journalism. Unfortunately, in the case of Primary Colors, a fair number of journalists confused. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties. Votes: 0

A novel, basically, is writing one sentence — then, without violating the scope of the first one, writing the next sentence. Votes: 0

There isn't, even now, a great tradition of novel-writing in Afghanistan. Most of the literature is in the form of poetry. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is like childbirth: once you realize how awful it really is, you never want to do it again. Votes: 0

I never know when I finish the novel I am writing which will be the next novel out of the station. Votes: 0

My intention was never to write a "trans novel" - which is perhaps an effective strategy for writing a trans novel. Votes: 0

Nothing induces me to read a novel except when I have to make money by writing about it. I detest them. Votes: 0

My favorite period is World War II, and I'm in the middle of writing my fourth novel set in that era. Votes: 0

All writing is an act of self-exploration. Even a grocery list says something about you; how much more does a novel say? Votes: 0

I never discuss a novel while I'm writing it, for fear that talking about it will diminish my desire to write it. Votes: 0

You would go mad if you began to speculate about the impact your novel might have while you were still writing it. Votes: 0

The only difficulty is to know what bits to choose and what to leave out. Novel-writing is not creation, it is selection. Votes: 0

I don't talk about my books while I'm writing them: not even my husband knows what a novel's about until it's done. Votes: 0

I have a different purpose in writing each novel. Some of them seem more similar than others, but the purposes are always different. Votes: 0

I havent been doin much comic book writing for the last several years though, as Ive been writing television projects and a novel. Votes: 0

In terms of a "career," I never have long-term plans, and certainly don't want to spend several years, say, writing a "long" novel. Votes: 0

I've never taken any classes or had formal training in writing novels. At its most basic, I learned how to structure a novel. Votes: 0

Nothing beats novel writing because it's complete expression of you. You just control everything. Not even a movie director has that level of control. Votes: 0

Writing a novel that works is an extremely difficult thing to do. It requires a level of skill and dedication that always surprises me. Votes: 0

Updike worked this way, and I just kinda borrowed it from him. So the memoir will be relief from novel writing for a moment. Votes: 0

The recent extraordinary discovery in Photography, as applied in the operations of the mind, has reduced the art of novel-writing to the merest mechanical labour. Votes: 0

The novel I am constantly writing is always the same one, and it might be described as a variously sliced-up or torn-apart book of myself. Votes: 0

I think it took me half a page of 'Wolf Hall' to think: 'This is the novel I should have been writing all along.' Votes: 0

I try to hurt myself, to sprain something, writing every novel and story, because I'm stretching for something new and difficult that I haven't done before. Votes: 0

I think the trick of writing a good picture book manuscript is to leave that space for illustration. An illustrated novel can do the same thing. Votes: 0

I have time to write 1-2 novels per year, and get roughly novel-sized ideas every month. I have to perform triage on my own writing impulses. Votes: 0

I binge write. I think it's because I started seriously writing by participating in National Novel Writing Month, an online-based challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Votes: 0

I never see a novel as a film while I'm writing it. Mostly because novels and films are so different, and I'm such an internal novelist. Votes: 0

I never see a novel as a film while I'm writing it. Mostly because novels and films are so different, and I'm such an internal novelist Votes: 0

Writing the middle of a novel is a lot like driving through Texas. You think it's never going to end, and the scenery looks the same. Votes: 0

Writing one's first novel, getting it sold, and shepherding it through the labyrinths of editing, production, marketing, journalism, and social media is an arduous and nerve-wracking process. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is like heading out over the open sea in a small boat. It helps, if you have a plan and a course laid out. Votes: 0

Often in literary criticism, writers are told that a character isn't likable, as if a character's likability is directly proportional to the quality of a novel's writing. Votes: 0

Writing a story is kind of like surfing, as opposed to the novel, where you use a GPS to get somewhere. With surfing, you kind of jump. Votes: 0

For children: I'm writing a picture book about the Big Dipper and a novel about a cricket, a firefly and a vole. For grownups: I'm writing poems. Votes: 0

Writing in a near-frenzy is wonderful and freeing but, for me, it does not result in a nice shiny novel. Instead what I have is a mess. Votes: 0

Then about 1951 I began writing again, painfully, a novel I called in the beginning A Life Sentence on Earth, but which developed into The Tree of Man. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is an intense and lonely business, but you have the reward at the end of a very direct dialogue between you and the reader. Votes: 0

I don't see the direct correlation between my personal life and the novel I'm writing until I'm at the end of the novel or very close to it. Votes: 0

Writing a novel in general is like trying to reach a mountain top you'll never quite reach - so you try again and maybe get a little closer. Votes: 0

Writing in a near frenzy is wonderful and freeing, but for me, it did not result in a nice, shiny novel. Instead, what I have is a mess. Votes: 0

Writing a novel proved to be the hardest, most self-analyzing task I had ever attempted, far worse than an autobiography: and its rewards were greater than I expected. Votes: 0

In order to be a living, breathing thing, a novel has to be failed in some kind of way. Or at least that's how I keep writing them. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is like making love, but it's also like having a tooth pulled. Pleasure and pain. Sometimes it's like making love while having a tooth pulled. Votes: 0

To this day, 'The Duke and I' remains particularly close to my heart; I felt it was the novel in which my writing took a huge leap forward. Votes: 0

Writing a first novel takes so much effort, with such little promise of result or reward, that it must necessarily be a labor of love bordering on madness. Votes: 0

Though The Kite Runner was my first completed novel, I had been writing on and off for most of my life, primarily short stories, and primarily for myself. Votes: 0

Writing a story or a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer's own life. Votes: 0

Write a novel if you must, but think of money as an unlikely accident. Get your reward out of writing it, and try to be content with that. Votes: 0

I always worry that knowing too much about a novel or a story early on in writing will close it down - it feels fatalistic in some way. Votes: 0

To this day, The Duke and I remains particularly close to my heart; I felt it was the novel in which my writing took a huge leap forward. Votes: 0

The writing in Mission to Paris, sentence after sentence, page after page, is dazzling. If you are a John le Carr fan, this is definitely a novel for you. Votes: 0

Writing a first novel was an arduous crash course. I learned so much in the six years it took me to write it, mostly technical things pertaining to craft. Votes: 0

I'm writing another novel and I know what I'm going to do after, which may be something more like this again, maybe some strange mixture of fiction and non-fiction. Votes: 0

The movies are fun, but I'm a novelist. In many ways, screenwriting is much easier than writing novels. I find screenplays twenty times easier to write than a novel. Votes: 0

Writing a novel was completely awesome because parts of it could suck and I could throw them away. I didn't have to know the ending until I got there. Votes: 0

The idea to make hotel reviews the form of the novel came first.So I just started writing hotel reviews and tried to come up with a consistent voice. Votes: 0

Writing a novel is a lot like directing a movie because you are creating a world and a tone, you are creating a large canvas and all the details. Votes: 0