A Quote by J. M. Coetzee

I must not fall asleep in the middle of my life. Out of the blankness that surrounds me I must pluck the incident after incident after incident whose little explosions keep me going.

J. M. Coetzee

Quote Topics

After Asleep Blankness Explosions Fall Going Incident Keep Life Little Me Middle Must My Life Out Pluck Surrounds Whose

Quote Author

J. M. Coetzee
South African - Novelist
Born: February 9, 1940

Blind Curve, the book I'm working on now, sprang from a crazy incident that happened to me last year while on my book tour. I was pulled out of my car for a minor traffic violation - an incident that escalated into my being thrown into cuffs and told I was going to jail. Except in my story, the hero doesn't get off as easily as I did.

Andrew Gross

It seems that, every several months, you have to expect there is going to be a terrorist incident or that there could be a terrorist incident somewhere. Right away, you're thinking, 'What are the consequences? Is this the first part of a larger attack? Is it coordinated, or a lone wolf?'

Peter T. King

I feel like after my incident, it really made me realize football is not here forever. I'm all the more anxious to come out here and let my teammates know, 'Look, hey, this is the same JPP. Missing fingers aren't going to stop me from playing some ball.'

Jason Pierre-Paul

Try and have neutral compassion toward the perpetrator. Step outside the sting of the incident and realize that this person is trying to erase their own inadequacy or unhappiness by transferring it to you. It won't make the incident go away, but it's one thing you can do to reduce the pain.

Monica Lewinsky

I'm not much of a plotter. I start off with an inciting incident, and in classic crime fiction what happens is that all the action flows from that incident. It's very comfy when it all ties up and feels like a complete universe, but my stuff doesn't always work that way.

Denise Mina

Marriage, to women as to men, must be a luxury, not a necessity; an incident of life, not all of it.

Susan B. Anthony

Marriage, to woman as to man, must be a luxury, not a necessity; an incident of life, not all of it.

Susan B. Anthony

The incident with Dawn hadn't been one of my finer moments. I honestly hadn't expected to break any bones when I shoved her into a tree. Still, the incident had given me a dangerous reputation. The story had gained legendary status, and I liked to imagine that it was still being told around campfires late at night. Judging by the look on the girl's face, it was.

Richelle Mead

Plots may be simple or complex, but suspense, and climactic progress from one incident to another, are essential. Every incident in a fictional work should have some bearing on the climax or denouement, and any denouement which is not the inevitable result of the preceding incidents is awkward and unliterary.

H. P. Lovecraft

Many Southern writers must have learned the art of storytelling from listening to oral tales. I did. It gave me the knowledge that the simplest incident can make a story.

Erskine Caldwell

A novel can be set in motion by an incident, a character, a location, a mood - by anything at all. Sometimes the stimulus can be an idea, which will rapidly clothe itself in character and incident. 'Foreign Bodies' came about through the contemplation of the contrast between post-second world war America and Europe.

Cynthia Ozick

What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?

Henry James

It is disappointing to see cricket being targeted after the Pulwama incident.

Sarfaraz Ahmed

Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?' To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.' The dog did nothing in the night-time.' That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.