Every novelist has a different purpose-and often several purposes which might even be contradictory.
Irwin ShawIf football players were armed with guns, there wouldn't be stadiums large enough to hold the crowds.
Irwin ShawI imagine that my characters have become much more complicated than when I first began, which would be normal
Irwin ShawHorror would not annoy a soldier any more than the sight of a hammer annoys a carpenter. It is sentimental to pretend that horror is not the tool of the soldier, just as the hammer is the tool of the carpenter. We live off death and the threat of death and we must take it calmly and use it well.... Eventually I came to enjoy killing, as a pianist enjoys the Czerny which keeps his fingers limber for the Beethoven.
Irwin Shaw