Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Beginning a novel is always hard. It feels like going nowhere. I always have to write at least 100 pages that go into the trashcan before it finally begins to work. It's discouraging, but necessary to write those pages. I try to consider them pages -100 to zero of the novel.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Starting a novel is challenging and often involves writing content that may not be used.
The quote by Barbara Kingsolver reflects the struggles that many writers face when beginning a new novel. It highlights the often frustrating but necessary process of producing early drafts, which may not make it into the final product, as integral steps toward achieving a strong and coherent narrative. This emphasis on perseverance and patience in the creative process reminds writers that initial failures are part of the journey toward success.
Themes
WritingNovelCreativityProcessDrafts
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote during a writing workshop to encourage aspiring authors.
More from Barbara Kingsolver
All quotes βChildren can be your heartache. But that doesn't matter, you have to go on and have them . . . it works out.
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I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.
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I did it to win love, and to prove myself capable. Not to move mountains. In my opinions, mountains don't move. They only look changed when you look down on them from great height.
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Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.
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Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
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