"We read five words on the first page of a really good novel..." — John Gardner

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We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images.

— John Gardner

On Becoming A Novelist

Books Novels Imagination Best Reading Quotes Words Become Images

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I dreamed I awakened in a valley where no life stirred, no cry of a fox sparked up out of…

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The old ram stands looking down over rockslides, stupidly triumphant.

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Sometimes the sordidness of his present existence, not to mention the stifling, clammy…

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Locked in the deadly progression of moon and stars.

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