Jane Smiley Quotes

Judgments and secrets are what make a good novel.

The only thing I knew about novels from a technical point of view was that they should have conflict.

I believe that, in any novel of mine, the principal objective is the construction of the whole.

Plot is what happens in your story. Every story needs structure, just as every body needs a skeleton. It is how you 'flesh out and clothe' your structure that makes each story unique.

A short story is something that you can hold in your mind. You can really analyze how the entire thing works, like a machine.

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.

Stories of all lengths and depths come from different parts of the cave. For a novel, you must lay in mental, physical and spiritual provision as for a siege or for a time of hectic explosions, while a short story is, or can be, a steady, timed flame like the lighting of a blow lamp on a building site full of dry tinder.

There's so much more to a book than just the reading.

Short stories consume you faster. They're connected to brevity. With the short story, you are up against mortality. I know how tough they are as a form, but they're also a total joy.

Listen to great storytellers; slowly, you will learn about voice, timing, tension, structure, climax - all the things you need to tell stories that will capture the imagination of your audience.

I love a really good storyline.

When people read a novel 600 pages long, six months pass, and all they will remember are five pages. They don't remember the text - instead, they remember the sensations the text gives them.

The building of the architecture of a novel - the craft of it - is something I never tire of.

I think predictability is built into any good novel in some way - you begin reading Anna Karenina and you know pretty much what's going to happen at the end. But that doesn't mean you know what's going to happen in the middle. For me, it's that sense of what happens in the middle that's important.

I'm struggling with what is epic. People decided I was epic - if by epic, do you mean a big, heavy book? 'David Copperfield' is a big book - is it epic? Amount of time covered, length, drama, or story - that's the real appeal - if the story is long you have a better chance of becoming more connected.

You can read a dozen different textbooks or how-to manuals that will tell you the basic rules of what makes a story - a beginning, a middle, and an end.

I care about narrative structure; I care about how stories unfold.

I don't think in terms of optimism and pessimism when writing a story. I am telling a story.

Of course, I'm not allowed to talk about the script, but I can say it is a really good story.

My writing has always been what you call 'narrative fiction' in the sense that it's got very strong plots and twists at the end.

A short story can be packed with meaning and impact, with the concentrated density of a collapsed star, but should preferably also have a kind of elegant simplicity.

Storytelling is about two things; it's about character and plot.

I began to be impressed by what made a good book-how you needed to have a sensible story, a plot that developed, with a beginning, a middle, and an end that would tie everything together.

I always think plot is what you fall back on if you can't write, to keep things going.

An attempt to write nothing but characterization will soon bog down; I for one don't want to have somebody tell me about someone else.