Louise Bogan Quotes

I am really excited by the form of short fiction.

NOVEL, n. A short story padded.

The first lie of fiction is that the author gives some order to the chaos of life: chronological order, or whatever order the author chooses.

Obviously, I like to write stories that are page-turners. But I always try my very, very hardest to be as factually true as possible.

I think the short story is a very underrated art form. We know that novels deserve respect.

Every now and then I'll do little things, a short story or something, that doesn't have any fantastical elements, but mostly I like the power of playing God and I like to imagine things.

Short stories are fiction's R & D department, and failed or less-than-conclusive experiments are not just to be expected but to be hoped for.

Since I grew up, I have never deliberately used any technique at all other than the physical shaping of my tale so that it more or less resembles what has been thought of as a novel for these last two hundred years.

There are many reasons why novelists write, but they all have one thing in common - a need to create an alternative world.

Anthony Powell taught me to write; he has such brilliant control of the mechanics of the novel.

I like novelists who can create other interesting worlds.

Well, to be honest I think I'm a better short story writer than a novelist. Novels I find very hard, hours and hours, weeks and weeks, of conscious thought - whereas short stories slip out painlessly in a few days.

I would, however, start writing fiction about 10 years before I actually did, because it's such great fun to do, many times more creative than nonfiction.

I like going back and writing fiction.

I like short stories.

I stopped writing short fiction early on - I was never really good at it, and I never liked the results. So I stopped trying to fit the material I was working with into these tidy little short fiction packages.

All of my novels are seeded in real life events, and 'The Wreckage' is no different.

I tend to be more of a novel writer. In fact, some of my novels started out as short stories, and I just got carried away! I think some of my best writing is in the short story form, but novels come more naturally to me.

The job of the novelist is to invent: to embroider, to color, to embellish, to make things up.

Novels are so much unrulier and more stressful to write. A short story can last two pages and then it's over, and that's kind of a relief. I really like balancing the two.

The short story, it's not a step on the way to becoming a novelist.

I have always loved short stories. I have been at least as influenced by the short story masters as I have been by novelists.

I come from a prose background. I come from short story background, and that led me into novels.

I seem to turn out stories that violate the discipline of the short story form and don't obey the rules of progression for novels. I don't think about a particular form: I think more about fiction, let's say a chunk of fiction.

I've never been a true fan of the short story and have only published a single example of my own.