Novels are forged in passion, demand fidelity and commitment, often drive you to boredom or rage, sleep with you at night. They are the long haul. They are marriage. Stories, on the other hand, you can lose yourself in for a few weeks and then wrap up, or grow tired of and abandon and (maybe) return to later. They can cuddle you sweetly, or make you get on your knees and beg. David Leavitt
About This Quote

Author Stephen King wrote in his book On Writing: "I had an interesting experience with a young man who came to my office. He was a bright, hardworking kid, and had been accepted at Stanford Medical School, but he'd been having some personal problems. He came to me because I was a good therapist and I didn't see any evidence that he was mentally ill. He asked if I would help him write a novel and teach him the craft of writing.

I said, fine, and we got to work. After several weeks of work we had a first draft of a novel that was, while not bad, pretty ordinary. It wasn't very good, either. But the kid had really stuck with it and he'd put in a lot of effort.

He wanted to be a writer and it meant a lot to him that I would help him get there. He called me up about two weeks later and said there's something wrong with this novel; it wants to be good but it isn't. The little voice in the back of my head that is always telling me what's wrong with my writing pretty much said the same thing. We talked for several more weeks and we finally got the novel into shape where we thought it was ready for publication nine months later.

That's how long it took us from start to finish." "A novel is forged in passion," says King, "demand fidelity and commitment,"  "often drives you to boredom or rage," he continues, "sleep with you at night,"  " they are the long haul,"  "they are marriage,"  " they can cuddle you sweetly,"  "or make you get on your knees and beg,"  "but they're not going anywhere." A novel can relax you or make you angry or leave you bored or frustrated or hungry for more but ultimately its purpose is to keep you turning pages until you reach the end of the story - when the story ends - no matter how long it takes...

Source: Collected Stories

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