I take six or seven years to write really small books. There is a kind of aesthetic of leanness, of brevity.
Mohsin HamidRead
Novel writing is the slowest art form in the world. It is not a sprint. It is not even a marathon. It is a series of marathons that stretch over and over across a continent.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing a novel is a lengthy and challenging process that requires persistence and dedication.
In this quote, Mohsin Hamid emphasizes that novel writing is not a quick endeavor, but rather an extensive journey filled with multiple phases of hard work and endurance. By comparing it to a series of marathons, he highlights the continuous effort and time commitment required to develop a complete and polished work of art.
Themes
WritingNovelArtPersistenceJourney
In practice
Example use cases
During a writers' workshop, to emphasize the commitment needed, I might say: 'Remember, novel writing is the slowest art form in the world.'
More from Mohsin Hamid
All quotes →When the forces are aligning against hybridity, it harms everyone, as we are all migrants. Growing up in Pakistan, I know just how oppressive that kind of puritanical mindset can be.
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Some of my relatives held on to imagined memories the way homeless people hold onto lottery tickets. Nostalgia was their crack cocaine, if you will, and my childhood was littered with the consequences of their addiction : unserviceable debts, squabbles over inheritances, the odd alcoholic or suicide.
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Stories helped me unite parts of my existence that might otherwise have seemed irrevocably split by geography and time. And stories helped me find a future in which I, such a mongrel, could be comfortable.
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I think there's a growing courage among the younger generation of American writers. Because of the more superficial treatment of characters taking place in cinema, they have had to deal with that by digging deeper into who these people are.
Mohsin HamidRead
Part of the reason people abroad resent the United States is something Americans can do very little about: envy. The richest, most powerful country in the world attracts the jealousy of others in much the same way that the richest, most powerful man in a small town attracts the jealousy of others.
Mohsin HamidRead
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