a novel is not born of a single idea. The stories I've tried to write from one idea, … - Katherine Paterson

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Quote of the day

I don't believe in original melodies. There are only so many computations of eight notes.

Katherine Paterson

a novel is not born of a single idea. The stories I've tried to write from one idea, no matter how terrific an idea, have sputtered out and died by chapter three. For me, novels have invariably come from a complex of ideas that in the beginning seemed to bear no relation to each other, but in the unconscious began mysteriously to merge and grow. Ideas for a novel are like the strong guy lines of a spider web. Without them the silken web cannot be spun.

Come, Ideas, Strong, Terrific, Writing

Same Author Quotes

He [an earnest young reporter] seemed to share the view of many intelligent, well-educated, well-meaning people that, while adult literature may aim to be art, the object of children's books is to whip the little rascals into shape.

Art, Book, Children, Intelligent, Seemed, Whip

I cannot, will not, withhold from my young readers the harsh realities of human hunger and suffering and loss, but neither will I neglect to plant that stubborn seed of hope that has enabled our race to outlast wars and famines and the destruction of death.

Harsh, Hope, Loss, Neglect, Reality, War

Punch after punch after punch. February is a mean bully. Nothing could be worse - except August.

August, Bully, Mean, Nothing

the reason God made February short a few days was because he knew that by the time people came to the end of it they would die if they had to stand one more blasted day.

Blasted, Day, February, People, Reason, Short

Still, I kept writing. I had no guarantee that I would someday win awards for writing. Heavens, the only person during that time who seemed to think I could write something worth publishing was my loyal husband. But I always remembered the professor from graduate school who urged me to write and who recommended me for that first writing assignment in 1964. When I protested to Sara Little that I didn't want to add another mediocre writer to the world, she gently reminded me that if I didn't dare mediocrity, I would never write anything at all.

Husband, School, Time, Win, Writing