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" I attempt to write a good novel. Whether it is literature or not is something that will be decided by the ages, not by me and not by a pack of critics around the globe. "

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" The English tradition offers the great tapestry novel, where you have the emotional aspect of a detective's personal life, the circumstances of the crime and, most important, the atmosphere of the English countryside that functions as another character. "

Elizabeth George

Character

Important

Life

" While I've written in the POV (point of view) of adolescent characters before... I never have had to create novels in which those characters not only drive the plot, but also are instrumental in resolving whatever issue the plot deals with. "

" Creating the characters is the most creative part of the novel except for the language itself. There I am, sitting in front of my computer in right-brain mode, typing the things that come to mind - which become the seeds of plot. It's scary, though, because I always wonder: Is it going to be there this time? "

" I myself have suffered periodically from hearing voices at night when I'm trying to sleep. "

" Plotting is difficult for me, and always has been. I do that before I actually start writing, but I always do characters, and the arc of the story, first... You can't do anything without a story arc. Where is it going to begin, where will it end. "

Elizabeth George

Story

End

" I knew from the age of seven that I was meant to be a writer. "

" When I start a book, I write a minimum of five pages every day, except weekends. If I'm going on a ski trip, I take my computer with me, get up at six, do my five pages, and then go skiing. "

Elizabeth George

Every Day

Skiing

" The Pacific Northwest, and particularly Whidbey Island, is extremely suited to be a location in a novel. "

" Lots of people want to have written; they don't want to write. In other words, they want to see their name on the front cover of a book and their grinning picture on the back. But this is what comes at the end of a job, not at the beginning. "

" I write the kinds of novels I like to read, where the setting is rendered with love and care. "

Elizabeth George

Write

Kinds

" Art can't be taught; passion can't be taught; discipline can't be taught; but craft can be taught. And writing is both an art and a craft. "

" I wish that I had known back then that a mastery of process would lead to a product. Then I probably wouldn't have found it so frightening to write. "

" Having a facility for language is an important part of being an author. "

" I don't think anyone could write about another culture and get it 100 percent accurate. "

" I find it both fascinating and disconcerting when I discover yet another person who believes that writing can't be taught. Frankly, I don't understand this point of view. "

" I have to know the killer, the victim and the motive when I begin. Then I start to create the characters and see how the novel takes shape based on what these people are like. "

" Essentially and most simply put, plot is what the characters do to deal with the situation they are in. It is a logical sequence of events that grow from an initial incident that alters the status quo of the characters. "

" I really liked the idea of creating a journal myself. It's like the way I clear my throat. I write a page every day, maybe 500 words. It could be about something I'm specifically worried about in the new novel; it could be a question I want answered; it could be something that's going on in my personal life. I just use it as an exercise. "

" Oh, yes, I taught 13 and a half years. I taught English, first at a Catholic school and then at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif. "

" What we are is what we were always meant to be, and that's writers. "

" I'm interested in the dark side of man. I'm interested in taboos, and murder is the greatest taboo. Characters are fascinating in their extremity, not in their happiness. "

" It is the job of the novelist to touch the reader. "

" I try to create a challenge for myself in each book. And sometimes, believe me, I just kick myself afterwards, and say, 'Why on earth did you ever attempt this, you idiot!' But I'm always better for the experience. "

Elizabeth George

Book

Myself

" I taught English, first at a Catholic school and then at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif. "