I was very afraid to write a novel - it was a dream for a very long time, and it was one of the few things that I was afraid to try.
Many readers know my work first through 'Housekeeping,' simply because it was my only novel for a pretty long time.
Mary: I can't finish the novel, I don't know whether he's good or bad.
It's easy in a novel to be completely unambiguous about the relationship between animal and daemon simply by stating it outright; whereas you get very few opportunities to do this in an elegant way in a film.
You don't want to be ungenerous toward people who give you prizes, but it is never the social or political message that interests me in a novel. I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character.
A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective.
I think of novels in architectural terms. You have to enter at the gate, and this gate must be constructed in such a way that the reader has immediate confidence in the strength of the building.
I sometimes think it ironic for an ex-seaman, longshoreman, truck driver, policeman, bus driver, etc... to find success writing children's novels.
Having the urge to write a novel, especially if you've yet to be published, is like having a medical condition impossible to mention in polite company - it's a relief simply to know there are fellow-sufferers out there.
Movies have to handle time very efficiently. They're about stringing scenes together in the present. Novels aren't necessarily about that.
There are two different forms of storytelling: Novels tend to come from the inside of a character, and movies tend to look at them from the outside in relation to others in their world.
Only in the mystery novel are we delivered final and unquestionable solutions. The joke to me is that fiction gives you a truth that reality can't deliver.
Writing novels preserves you in a state of innocence - a lot passes you by - simply because your attention is otherwise diverted.
Live your life as a novel with a daring, awesome main character; otherwise you’re just there for comic relief.
My novels are about the European reality, not about chases. You want chases, get somebody else's books.
To me there's no difference between a book of stories and a novel - they're just slightly different shapes.
Serial novels have an unexpected effect; they hook the writer as well as the reader.
After writing each novel, I would spend days poring over suggestions from my editor.
Will Shatner, Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek have already put novels out.
When one starts writing a book, especially a novel, even the humblest person in the world hopes to become Homer.
Ironically, in life, you sacrifice everything you love in the name of love"~ the motto of the romance novel Cupcakes and Cologne.
