[Patricia Highsmith] was a figure of contradictions: a lesbian who didn't particularly like women; a writer of the most insightful psychological novels who, at times, appeared bored by people; a misan...
Some stories have to be written because no one would believe the absurdity of it all.
What is it about us lady authors and our fascination for the exclamation mark?
A good novel, one which entices the author as much as it beckons the reader.
After all, isn't the purpose of the novel, or of a museum, for that matter, to relate our memories with such sincerity as to transform individual happiness into a happiness all can share?
[L]ife is a phenomenon in need of criticism, for we are, as fallen creatures, in permanent danger of worshipping false gods, of failing to understand ourselves and misinterpreting the behaviour of oth...
Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casual
God is going to send you someone that will rescue you. Then one day you will rescue them in return and together your story will rescue others. He has always been a God of rescues and a maker of warrio...
When I want to read a novel, I write one.
Never Let The Roosters Wake You!
Writers remember everything...especially the hurts. Strip a writer to the buff, point to the scars, and he'll tell you the story of each small one. From the big ones you get novels. A little talent is...
To Me, The Best Part Of Success, Is The Journey!
I have almost completed a long novel, but it is unpublishable until my death and England's.
Two questions form the foundation of all novels: "What if?" and "What next?" (A third question, "What now?", is one the author asks himself every 10 minutes or so; but it's more a cry than a question....
To be motivated to write a novel, I need to be unable not to write.
Reading opens up other pockets of the mind.
A short story is a sprint, a novel is a marathon. Sprinters have seconds to get from here to there and then they are finished. Marathoners have to carefully pace themselves so that they don't run out...
Sometimes you have to walk through the fire, in order to reach your calling.
...but I was bored, I could scarcely understand them. I started to borrow novels from the circulating library, and read one after the other. But in the long run they didn't help. They presented intens...
It's my contention that each book creates its own structure and its own length. I've written three or four slim books. It may be that the next novel is a big one, but I don't know.