Why a novel is like a car…Quotes for Writers (and people who like quotes)
It is perfectly legitimate to write novels which are essentially prose poems, but in the end, I think, a novel is like a car, and if you buy a car and grow flowers in it, you’re forgetting that the car is designed to take you somewhere else.
Robert Harris
photo credit: via photopin (license)
7 comments on “Why a novel is like a car…Quotes for Writers (and people who like quotes)”
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A Good Confession
"Unputdownable" Miriam Stoppard
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 
It is possible to both grow flowers and travel in it. This review might illustrate that, but I apologise in advance for making the point this way. http://bit.ly/JOELRev
Interesting…and I enjoyed the review (plus your illustrations).
I have images of a car I knew in childhood that grew wildflowers. It was also a home for geese on my grandparents’ farm. That didn’t go anywhere at all…
Yes, you can have prose poem novels and cars that are gardens but the marriage has to to be worked at and many compromises have to be made. Comfort, speed and lack of passengers for the car driver; narrative drive for the reader…
I echo the lack of passengers Bridget! I think if a reader ventures in, they find the jalopy has more oompf than they expected! We also inherited a car that grew flowers and grass along the sills when we moved into four collapsing barns. Put it outside with a sign ‘Waiting for the AA’
Reading – or writing – a book is like a car, driving down a long dark road. You can see as far as the headlights will allow. Mile by mile, chapter by chapter, the road rolls by and someday – if you drive far enough and fast enough you get there or else you drive head-on into a bulldozer.
Either way, the end.
Unless you get lost and drive on and on, knowing you really should turn around, go home and start again another day or stop and ask for directions…this car imagery is getting out of hand…
Great quote & great visual Bridget – thanks for both!!
Glad you enjoyed them. Searched awhile for a car growing flowers but I think this one is even better.